Effect of oromotor stimulation on early sucking behavior and later development in preterm newborns

TL;DR

Standard care was more effective than oromotor stimulation in improving feeding, growth, and development in preterm infants.

Contribution

Demonstrated that standard care outperforms structured oromotor stimulation in preterm infants' outcomes.

Findings

Standard care led to earlier full oral feeding and greater weight gain compared to oromotor stimulation.

Infants receiving standard care had shorter hospital stays and better developmental scores at 6 months.

Standard care proved more effective in enhancing neurodevelopmental outcomes than OMS interventions.

Abstract

Preterm infants (<34 weeks) often face feeding difficulties due to immature oromotor coordination. This randomized controlled
trial of 150 preterm infants compared structured OMS, unstructured stimulation and standard care. Standard care led to earlier full oral
feeding (8.84 ± 2.37 days), greater weight gain (40.04 ± 6.92%) and shorter hospital stay (24.16 ± 4.52 days)
(p < 0.001). Developmental scores at 6 months were significantly higher with standard care than with OMS interventions. Standard care
proved more effective than OMS in enhancing feeding, growth and neurodevelopmental outcomes in preterm infants.