The effects of body positioning on sucking behaviour in sick neonates

Abstract

Some infants show better oxygenation in the prone position compared to the supine position while they are bottle-fed; however, the reason for this phenomenon is not clear. The purpose of this study was to obtain a better understanding of the effects of body position on the oral feeding performance, i.e. the sucking pressure, frequency, efficiency, and ventilation. A total of 14 infants (12 full-term, 2 preterm), who often showed O2 desaturation (SpO2 < 90) during oral feeding, were enrolled in the study. The infants were fed either in the supine position or in the prone position throughout feeding. Oxygen saturation was recorded with a pulse oxymeter. The sucking pressure was measured with a 1 mm I.D. silicone tube inserted into the artificial nipple. The ventilation volume during bottle feeding was measured with a pneumotachograph. The prone position resulted in better oxygenation (97.2 +/- 0.6% prone, 92.5 +/- 0.9% supine, P < 0.05) and larger tidal volume (6.4 +/- 0.8 ml/kg prone and 4.9 +/- 0.6 ml/kg supine, P < 0.05), although the minute ventilation during bottle-feeding was not different from that in the supine position. In the prone position, the sucking pressure and frequency were higher and the duration of each suck was shorter.

Conclusion: Sucking in the prone position may to some extent reduce disadvantages of oral feeding on ventilation.