Mechanism to Promote Safe and Efficient Oral Feeding in Preterm Infants

项目摘要/摘要 仅在美国，每年就有38万名早产婴儿。早产儿经常需要 新生儿重症监护室的护理。最后要达到的里程碑之一，才能出院 来自新生儿重症监护室的是口服喂养。对于早产儿来说，口服喂养可能是一个挑战 因为它们没有足够的成熟度来协调吸吮、吞咽和呼吸。很多婴儿 会吮吸和吞咽，他们不能呼吸会导致危险的生理波动。帮助 有了这个，就可以使用起搏技术了。谨慎的护理人员可以间歇性地将奶瓶乳头从奶瓶中拔出 婴儿的嘴，以鼓励呼吸和恢复。这可能会扰乱喂养过程，可能会导致 在巨大的能量消耗上，可能会给父母带来压力。为了解决这个问题，Preemie-Pacer 瓶子正在研发中。早产儿步行者有一个内部机制，可以中断牛奶流向 间歇性地乳头，使婴儿能够暂停和呼吸。 这个项目的长期目标是开发一种创新的瓶子，以解决早产的问题 婴儿在早期口服喂养期间体验，使早期喂养能够安全和有效地进行。海流 项目的目标是1)优化Preemie-Pacer瓶子的设计，并增加一个‘评估’ 模式和内部存储单元、外部显示器和可充电底座，然后进行实验室测试， 以及2)通过定义针对Preemie-Pacer的个性化使用的编程来提高可用性。为了实现这一目标， 设计工作之后，将对该设备进行实验室测试，以确保其耐用性、可重复性和 可靠性。然后，出生≤32周的100名早产儿将由新生儿每周喂养两次 治疗师，他将根据婴儿的行为，使用奶瓶上的传感器来控制牛奶的流量 有征兆。数据将被下载并汇集，算法与数据相适应，以建立适当的流量计时 并受到不同年龄和其他婴儿因素的影响。这些以证据为基础的利率将纳入 奶瓶编程，并将基于喂食器进入Preemie-Pacer上的独特婴儿因素进行游戏， 有能力在需要时调整费率。这项工作将为安全性和有效性的临床试验奠定基础。 早产儿步行者可以对早产儿的护理产生重大影响。如果安全和高效 甚至可以提前几天实现口服喂养，可以节省大量的医疗费用，而且婴儿 可以提早出院回家。此外，父母可能会有更多的成功和 对喂养高危早产儿的信心。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT There are 380,000 infants born preterm each year in the United States alone. Preterm infants often necessitate care in the neonatal intensive care unit. One of the final milestones to be achieved in order to be discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit is oral feeding. Oral feeding can be a challenge for infants born preterm as they do not have the maturity that allows for coordinated sucking, swallowing, and breathing. Many infants will suck and swallow, and their failure to breathe will result in dangerous physiological fluctuations. To help with this, pacing techniques can be used. Cautious caregivers can intermittently pull the bottle nipple out of the infant’s mouth to encourage breathing and recovery. This can be disruptive to the feeding process, can result in significant energy expenditure, and can be stressful for parents. To address this problem, the Preemie-Pacer bottle is in development. The Preemie-Pacer has an internal mechanism that interrupts the flow of milk to the nipple intermittently to enable the infant to pause and breathe. The long-term goal of this project is to develop an innovative bottle that will address the problems that preterm infants experience during early oral feeding, allowing early feeds to occur safely and efficiently. The current project aims are to 1) optimize the design of the Preemie-Pacer bottle with the addition of an ‘assessment mode’ and internal memory unit, external display, and rechargeable base followed by doing laboratory testing, and 2) improve usability by defining programming for individualized use of the Preemie-Pacer. To achieve this, design work will be followed by laboratory testing of the device to ensure its durability, repeatability and reliability. Then 100 preterm infants born ≤32 weeks gestation will be fed two times each week by a neonatal therapist who will control the flow of milk using a sensor on the bottle, according to the infant’s behavioral signs. Data will be downloaded and pooled and algorithms fit to the data to establish appropriate timing of flow and run across different ages and other infant factors. These evidence-based rates will be incorporated into the bottle programming and will play based on unique infant factors that the feeder enters on the Preemie-Pacer, with the ability to adjust the rates if needed. This work will set the stage for clinical trials on safety and efficacy. The Preemie-Pacer can have a significant impact on the care that preterm infants receive. If safe and efficient oral feeding can be achieved even a few days earlier, significant health care dollars can be saved, and infants can be discharged to their homes earlier. In addition, parents can potentially have more success and confidence in feeding their high-risk preterm infants.