2000 - Neonatal Feeding Club: Developmental Maturation of Oral Feeding in the Extremely Low GA Newborn: From A (Appetite) to Z (Zygomatic Arch)

Chair(s)

• 

  Steven Barlow, MS, PhD

  Professor, Research Director
  SECD-Center for Brain, Biology, & Behavior
  University of Nebraska-Lincoln
  Lincoln, Nebraska, United States
• 

  Emily Zimmerman, PhD.,CCC-SLP

  Associate Professor
  Northeastern University
  Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Our three speakers will address the sequelae surrounding sucking and oral feeding skills in the preterm. Club Chair Dr. Steven Barlow will introduce the Neonatal Feeding Club session and highlight biomechanical and oral feeding data based on 117 extremely preterm infants randomized to NTrainer and sham interventions (R01_HD086088 clinical trial), Club Co-Chair Dr. Emily Zimmerman will present results from her work (R21_DC016030) comparing preterm and full-term infants’ sucking and feeding development across the first year of life and how these behaviors intersect with other neurodevelopmental outcomes. Invited speaker Dr. Jill Maron will discuss the complex developmental processes required for successful premature neonatal oral feeding maturation, which is poorly understood at a molecular level. Current clinical care with this population is limited by the lack of objective assessment tools to determine the developmental stage across sensory and motor functions of an individual neonate to guide care and personalize interventions. One such method is through the utilization of gene expression. Dr. Maron and colleagues used obtained neonatal salivary samples from infants (n=108) born < 28 6/7 weeks’ gestation during the learning process of oral feeding (R01_HD086088). These data highlight the important roles that memory, gut-brain axis, facial development, and sensory integration play in successful oral feeding and can provide an assessment tool to personalize care and monitor response to treatment. Applying a personalized, noninvasive approach to oral feeding assessment has the potential to improve outcomes and to shorten duration to time to full oral feeds. A Q&A period will follow this presentation.

Presentations:

• 6:30 AM – 6:40 AM US MT

  Neonatal Feeding Club Introduction: Biomechanics of NNS
  

  Speaker: Steven M. Barlow, PhD – University of Nebraska
• 6:40 AM – 6:50 AM US MT

  Preterm and Term Infants Sucking and Feeding During First Year of Life: Intersection with Neurodevelopmental Outcomes
  

  Speaker: Emily Zimmerman, PhD.,CCC-SLP – Northeastern University
• 6:50 AM – 7:30 AM US MT

  Development/Maturation of Oral Feeding in the Extremely Low Gestational Age Newborn: From A (Appetite) to Z (Zygomatic Arch)
  

  Speaker: Jill Maron, MD, MPH – Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island
• 7:30 AM – 8:00 AM US MT

  Wrap up and Q&A
  

  Chair: Steven M. Barlow, PhD – University of Nebraska

  Chair: Emily Zimmerman, PhD.,CCC-SLP – Northeastern University