Review: non-nutritive sucking decreases length of hospital stay in premature infants
Question Does non-nutritive sucking improve clinical outcomes in premature infants?
Data sources
Studies were identified by searching Medline and CINAHL (back to 1976) and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register using the terms infant, premature; intensive care units, neonatal; enteral nutrition; sucking behavior; infant nutrition; gastric emptying; growth; parenteral nutrition; bottle feeding; infant care; infant, low birth weight; somatostatin; crying; oxygen; child development; physical stimulation; taste; infant, newborn; and feeding behavior and the text words “non,” “nutritive,” and “suck.” Bibliographies of articles were reviewed and 2 experts were contacted to identify other published or unpublished studies.
Study selection
Studies were selected if they were experimental or quasi-experimental trials that compared non-nutritive sucking of a pacifier with no provision of non-nutritive …
