An innovative automatic feeding device for preterm infants: promoting the development of sucking ability

Preterm infants, particularly those born before 32 weeks of gestation, frequently face challenges in achieving full enteral nutrition due to underdeveloped sucking-swallowing-breathing coordination. Conventional feeding methods, such as the use of indwelling nasogastric tubes, overlook the importance of sucking activity, which is essential for the development of gastrointestinal motility and the secretion of digestive enzymes. To address this issue, we have developed a sucking-rewarded automatic feeding device specifically designed for preterm infants. The device features a specialized pacifier that detects sucking activity and triggers the delivery of a predetermined amount of milk into the stomach via a gastric tube. In addition to promoting sucking-induced satiety, the device continuously monitors sucking waveforms to assess infants' viability and sucking maturity. In a clinical pilot study involving 25 preterm infants, those fed with the device demonstrated a significant increase in intestinal oxygen saturation compared with conventional gavage feeding (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Complementary experiments in 12 newborn beagle puppies showed faster gastric emptying rates (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and elevated gastrointestinal hormone levels (<i>p</i> < 0.05) when using the device. These findings highlight the clinical potential of the proposed device in improving feeding safety, efficiency, and developmental outcomes in preterm infants, and warrant further large-scale clinical trials to validate its long-term efficacy and integration into neonatal care.