Preterm infants’ behavioural indicators of oxygen decline during bottle feeding

Abstract

Reliance on preterm infant behavioural cues will be insufficient for detection of oxygen desaturation during oral feeding. Attention to changes in breath sounds and to the pattern of sucking are potentially important intervention strategies for the prevention of and appropriate response to oxygen decline during feeding. Sucking pauses may be a time when preterm infants aim to regulate their breathing pattern and thereby increase oxygenation. Interventions that focus on detection and minimization of apnoea during feeding, and which aim to protect infant sucking pauses, may reduce the number and severity of desaturation events preterm infants experience during bottle feeding.