Rehabilitation of sucking and swallowing alterations in premature newborn at the neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, 640 premature newborns with suction-deglutition alterations have been taken care of in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the Hospital Infantil de Mexico Federico Gómez, using techniques for patients with immaturity and neurological, gastrointestinal, cardiologic and respiratory pathologies. This descriptive study includes the treatment employed mainly in premature newborns during this period. Suction, swallowing, and breathing coordination are some of the most complex abilities that premature newborns face due to their anatomic and functional immaturity and improper sensorimotor integration for the high energy requirements they must meet. Sucking and swallowing are voluntary and involuntary processes that guarantee the safe passage of food from the mouth to the stomach and require the coordination of the cranial nerves, the brain stem and cerebral cortex and muscles of the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus. The rehabilitation treatment consists in the positioning of the newborn and caretaker, adaptation of teats, regulation of muscle tone and progressive intake of milk. The feeding processing was reduced to 1.5 weeks in newborns submitted to the treatment, whereas in those who did not receive the treatment, the process took up to three weeks.