Impact of Early and Consistent Occupational Therapy With Preterm Infants' Oral Feedings.

Abstract

Purpose: This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of early occupational therapy intervention on preterm infant's ability to achieve full oral feedings and be discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit. Study design and methods: Forty-one preterm infants were randomized to receive occupational therapy intervention or sham intervention beginning at 30 weeks' gestational age. An oral stimulation and therapeutic feeding protocol was used for those infants in the experimental group. Sham intervention was used for the infants in the control group and included holding the infant without any provision of oral stimulation or therapeutic feedings. These interventions were provided three times a week for 10–15 minutes each. Outcome measures included: postmenstrual age at first successful feeding, postmenstrual age at full oral feedings, number of infants receiving occupational therapy consultations, postmenstrual age at discharge from neonatal intensive care unit, and total length of hospital stay. Results: No significant differences were found in the aggregate; however, significant differences were found in the subgroup of less then 29 weeks' gestational age. Extremely preterm infants receiving early occupational therapy achieved full oral feedings on average 2.3 weeks earlier than their control counterparts. Conclusion: Early limited occupational therapy intervention may accelerate time to full oral feeding in extremely preterm infants.