Lau C, Kusnierczyk I
Department of Pediatrics/Neonatology and Feeding Disorders Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Dysphagia. 2001 Winter;16(1):58-67. doi: 10.1007/s004550000043.
Two important aspects of the clinical feeding evaluation of infants are the assessment of their nonnutritive and nutritive sucking skills. Nonnutritive sucking is monitored routinely by using a gloved finger and nutritive sucking by observing infants' sucking while bottle feeding. This approach, however. provides only a subjective and descriptive evaluation. In this study, we developed a finger pressure device that allows for quantification of specific measures of nonnutritive sucking. We are proposing that its use, in combination with the nipple/bottle system developed for the monitoring of nutritive sucking. will allow therapists to conduct objective and quantitative evaluations of infants' nonnutritive and nutritive sucking. The suction and expression components of sucking are monitored via two catheters placed at the tip of the index finger of a disposable glove and at the tip of a bottle nipple. The observations made from the standard clinical feeding evaluation and from these two instruments were compared. In addition to providing quantitative measures of sucking, the latter techniques allowed the review/reassessment of data, the monitoring of the maturation of oral motor skills over time, and the comparison of these measures between infants. It is proposed that the concurrent use of these devices will allow therapists to conduct more objective and detailed evaluations of infants' feeding skills than can be obtained at present.
婴儿临床喂养评估的两个重要方面是对其非营养性和营养性吸吮技能的评估。非营养性吸吮通常通过戴手套的手指进行监测，而营养性吸吮则通过观察婴儿奶瓶喂养时的吸吮情况来监测。然而，这种方法仅提供主观的描述性评估。在本研究中，我们开发了一种手指压力装置，可对非营养性吸吮的特定指标进行量化。我们建议将其与为监测营养性吸吮而开发的乳头/奶瓶系统结合使用，这将使治疗师能够对婴儿的非营养性和营养性吸吮进行客观和定量的评估。吸吮的吸力和挤压力量通过放置在一次性手套食指尖端和奶瓶乳头尖端的两根导管进行监测。比较了标准临床喂养评估和这两种仪器的观察结果。除了提供吸吮的定量指标外，后一种技术还允许对数据进行回顾/重新评估、监测口腔运动技能随时间的成熟情况以及比较不同婴儿之间的这些指标。建议同时使用这些装置将使治疗师能够对婴儿的喂养技能进行比目前更客观、更详细的评估。
