A special pacifier was given to some preemies in the NICU at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
The pacifiers contain music devices that play songs recorded by the babies' mothers. New research shows it helps train the newborns to eat on their own. "One of the most difficult things for a baby to learn how to do is how to coordinate suck, swallow and breathe. We take it for granted but it's actually a tremendously difficult skill to acquire," says Dr. Natalie L. Maitre.
Previous studies have shown newborns react positively to their mother's voices. So researchers at Vanderbilt placed a sensor in the pacifiers. When the babies sucked at just the right rate and strength, they were rewarded with their mother's voice. "Babies who had a pacifier activated music device with their mother's voice needed their feeding tubes one week less than babies in the other group."
The sooner a preemie can eat without a feeding tube, the sooner he or she can go home.
The study looked at nearly 100 premature babies. Researchers also found those practicing with the pacifier ate more frequently and developed a stronger sucking reflex.
