Essay On Oral Feeding

The oral feeding is a complex physiological process and it is the most difficult developmental task in newborn babies. The two life sustaining skills that an infant has to achieve immediately after birth are breathing and swallowing (Brodsky, 1997). Newborns swallow successfully by coordinating different anatomical structures which are involved in the process of swallowing and breathing. The point of measure of the respiratory swallowing coordination is swallowing apnea and the respiratory phase at which the apnea occurs. Swallowing apnea can occur at one of the following stages: mid-inspiration, mid-expiration, between inspiration & expiration or expiration and inspiration. There are many studies have been done to check respiratory swallowing

However, the nature of the typical respiratory swallow coordination in the healthy human infant population from birth to four days revealed varied findings, making it difficult to understand the phenomena. Swallow apnea duration and the phase at which the swallow apnea occurs is still unclear. Any defect in development from fertilization to birth can cause inefficient oral feeding and respiration. Efficient oral feeding will helps to gain energy for growth and immunity. Sucking, swallowing and respiration should be properly coordinated to obtain efficient feeding. Hence, the present study will shed light on this maturation of this event in the Indian population. Furthermore, this information will help in the clinical management decisions of the pediatric patients in the initial days after

In the line tracing, the onset of the exhalation is represented by the upward line tracing with paramedian position of the vocal folds, the onset of the inhalation is defined by the downward line tracing with an abducted posturing of the vocal folds and swallowing apnea is represented by a straight horizontal line which is present on the respiratory line tracing. In this current study, swallow apnea and the respiratory phase at which swallow apnea occurred were measured for each swallowing attempt made by the neonates. Swallow apnea duration is the duration of absence of breathing during swallowing which is measured in