Premature infants may not have the muscle strength needed to suck successfully at the breast or a bottle. This muscle strength, along with ability to coordinate sucking with swallowing and breathing, must be learned by the infant before feedings can begin.2 There are two sucking patterns with which an infant acquires these abilities: nonnutritive suck (NNS) and nutritive suck (NS). NNS occurs in the absence of food supply, when the infant sucks a finger or a pacifier. In infants that are born at full term, this practice occurs in the womb where the baby sucks on their fingers and practices swallowing amniotic fluid. In contrast, infants that are born prematurely did not get the time to develop these skills before birth.3 NNS is a fundamental skill that is important for oral feeding and self-regulation. NNS must develop before NS and has several benefits such as quicker transition to full oral feeds and a reduction in the number of hospital days.4
Premature infants are often given therapy to strengthen their oral muscles and work on the coordination of suck, swallow, breath. There have been several methods to develop NNS over the years including the use of a pacifier, a gloved finger with oral stimulation and now the Cardinal Health™ Kangaroo NTrainer™ System. The Kangaroo NTrainer™ System uses a pacifier that mimics healthy NNS patterns. The system also evaluates the infant’s progress of their development of this important skill. The Kangaroo NTrainer™ System helps get infants ready for NS, or feeding at the breast, by mimicking the patterns seen in well-developed NNS. The device stimulates the infant’s nervous system and brain’s nerves to control oral movement, which helps the infant develop the skills they need to successfully transition to oral feedings.
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One study showed infants that utilized the Kangaroo NTrainer™ System not only showed an improvement on NNS but an increase in their oral feedings (39.9% improvement in their NNS skills compared to the control). Infants who received therapy from the Kangaroo NTrainer™ System 2.0 had an increase in oral feedings (NS) of over sixteen times that of those who used a pacifier alone.5 This study helps to demonstrate that infants who use the Kangaroo NTrainer™ System are able to begin feeding, at the breast or bottle, sooner than those who do not. Another study found that the use of the Kangaroo NTrainer™ System helped to enable full oral feedings, at the breast or bottle, four days sooner. Those using this therapy were also discharged from the NICU six days sooner than those that did not use the device and relied on pacifiers alone.6 This study shows that infants using the Kangaroo NTrainer™ System were able to gain weight, and feed well at the breast or bottle in less time. With the faster transition to oral feedings, the infant can begin to work on breastfeeding with the mother and her lactation consultant sooner, allowing more time to master their new feeding skill.4 References: 1. Binns CW, Lee MK. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months: The WHO six months recommendation in the Asia Pacific Region. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2014;23(3):344-50. doi: 10.6133/apjcn.2014.23.3.21.
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