The NTrainer™ System 2.0 helps newborns and infants born prematurely master a critical feeding skill.
NICU infants, particularly those born prior to 34 weeks or with complications, encounter oral feeding delays due to their premature condition. Non-nutritive suck (NNS) — the basic act of sucking without receiving nutrients — is a key skill required for successful oral feeding and is under-developed in many preterm infants.
The NTrainer™ System 2.0 can help your baby develop their NNS skills to assist in the transition to oral feeding. The transition to oral feeding is a key developmental milestone, with independent oral feeding being the ultimate goal.
The NTrainer™ System 2.0 can help your baby get there. The NTrainer™ System 2.0 is delivered by a clinician and operates in two modes: Assessment and Therapy.
During the Assessment
Your baby will suck on a pacifier that is attached to the NTrainer™ Handpiece. The NTrainer™ System 2.0 will record and graph your baby’s sucking pattern and strength to help establish a starting point for measuring future progress. Should your baby’s assessment demonstrate underdeveloped NNS, they would be considered a candidate for the NTrainer™ Therapy.
During the Therapy
NTrainer™ Therapy is designed to be a positive experience for your baby. With the same handpiece and pacifier used during the Assessment mode, your baby will feel a series of six gentle pulsations followed by a two-second pause during the Therapy mode. The pulsing mimics mature NNS patterns to establish oral muscular memory, encouraging your baby to suck in a more coordinated pattern. This therapy takes approximately 10-20 minutes and generally occurs during gavage feeding. The NTrainer™ Therapy builds and strengthens your baby’s NNS skills necessary to transition to oral feeding.
Benefits of the NTrainer™ System 2.0:
- Increased parent engagement1
- Decreased time to full oral feedings2
- Reduced length of stay in the NICU2
- Assessment provides objective data to determine oral feeding readiness and progress
Under-developed NNS
Developed NNS
Frequently asked questions
When will my child begin using the NTrainer™ System 2.0?
NTrainer™ Therapy typically starts before oral feedings. If medically stable, therapy can start around 31-32 weeks gestation.
How often will I get an assessment of my child’s progress?
An assessment typically will be done every two to three days, but may vary depending on the hospital’s protocol. At the end of each assessment, you can see a visual graph to view your child’s progress.
How often is therapy done?
On average, the goal is to complete two therapy sessions daily, but this may vary depending on the hospital’s protocol. Parents are encouraged to be involved during therapy. The clinician delivering the therapy can provide bedside education on oral feeding readiness and help parents identify their infant’s specific feeding cues. During NTrainer™ Therapy, parents are taught how to hold and place the baby in proper feeding positions. As your baby makes the transition from gavage to independent oral feeding, parents can use the information they learned during NTrainer™ Sessions to respond appropriately to their baby’s feeding signals to promote safe and successful long-term feeding experiences.1
What happens when my baby starts feeding by mouth (breast or bottle)?
Once your baby starts to feed orally, the goal is to create positive, quality feeding experiences between you and your baby. We recommend responding to your baby’s feeding cues by breast or bottle feeding. These cues include rooting, bringing their hands to their mouth and being in a quiet and alert state. Your child will also need to have stable oxygen saturations and respiratory rates. There may be instances where the NTrainer™ System 2.0 is still used after the transition to oral feedings. For instance, when your baby is too drowsy to feed but will benefit from being held and having positive oral motor stimulation during a tube feeding. Otherwise, the number of NTrainer™ Sessions will decrease after your baby begins oral feeding.
Will the NTrainer™ System 2.0 help with progression to oral feeds?
Coordination with feeding and swallowing is a very complex process. Research supports the use of the NTrainer™ System 2.0 to provide newborns and infants born prematurely with a good foundation of feeding skills. This creates the potential for transition to full oral feeds earlier to get them home sooner. Many factors contribute to oral feeding success, including state of alertness, readiness scores, medications, respiratory support needs and environment. The NTrainer™ System 2.0 focuses on one important factor of feeding readiness — a strong, coordinated, non-nutritive suck.
What else can I do to support my baby’s feeding development?
- Hold your child during tube feedings
- Perform skin-to-skin care
- Offer a pacifier to suck on during tube feedings. This will help them correlate sucking with the sensation of feeling full.