New techniques to improve oral feeding in preterm infants

In the last decades, improvement of perinatal care increased the survival of preterm infants. After acute phase stabilization, the independent oral feeding is the last task prior to discharge at home, but, as the American Academy of Paediatrics recognizes, is essential for hospital discharge. Coordination of breathing–sucking–swallowing movements, usually present until 32 to 34 gestational weeks, is essential to attend full oral feeding in preterm infants. A delay in independent oral feeding, both breast and bottle-feeding, can lead to longer hospital stay, family stress, health costs and long-term language and feeding problems. In the last years, various oral and sensorimotor stimulations have been proved being effective to improve nutritive sucking in preterm infants and to reduce the time to attain a full oral feeding.