Effects of Sweet Taste Stimulation on Growth and Sucking in Preterm Infants

Objective: To evaluate the effect of sweet taste stimulation in augmenting the reported growth-enhancing effects of nonnutritive sucking in preterm infants who are gavage-fed. Design: Random assignment of preterm infants to receive stimulation by one of three methods during each feeding until totally orally fed. Setting: Hospital intensive-care and infant transitional units. Patients: Eligibility criteria included body weight greater than or equal to 1,250 g, gestational age younger than 34 weeks, growth parameters appropriate for gestational age, tolerating at least 100 kcals/kg/day by gavage feeding with evidence of weight gain, and no clinical evidence of health complications. Data are presented for 42 infants who completed 14 days of treatment. Interventions: Exposure to a sweet pacifier, a latex pacifier, or maternal heartbeat sounds during gavage feedings. Main outcome measures: Growth, time to total oral feeding, and sucking responses. Results: No significant differences in sucking measures were noted among treatment groups. Differences in progression time to total oral feedings and weight gain favored the sweet-pacifier group but were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Oral stimulation of gavage-fed, preterm infants during a 2-week hospitalization was not sufficient to elicit a significant improvement in growth efficiency, progression to total oral feedings, or sucking maturation. Additional studies may show a beneficial effect of chemosensory Stimulation in preterm infants.