Neonatal Feeding Club:The importance of tracking functional feeding outcomes in the newborn period and throughout childhood

Saturday, April 29, 2023

12:30 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Location: Convention Center: 147 AB

CE: Live CME: 1.50

Chair(s)

Emily Zimmerman, PhD.,CCC-SLP (she/her/hers)

Associate Professor
Northeastern University
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Steven Barlow, MS, PhD

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

Speaker(s)

Pamela Dodrill, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S (she/her/hers)

Clinical specialist - NICU feeding therapy team
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure(s):

Emily Zimmerman, PhD: No financial relationships to disclose

Steven M. Barlow, MS, PhD: No financial relationships to disclose

Session

Description: Our three speakers will address the tracking of sucking and feeding outcomes across preterm and full-term infants from the newborn period to early childhood.
Club Co-Chair Dr. Steven Barlow will introduce the Neonatal Feeding Club session and highlight biomechanical and oral feeding data collected from his lab across clinical trial studies. Club Co-Chair Dr. Emily Zimmerman will present data surrounding the associations between physiologically-based feeding metrics and parent report measures and the extent to which external factors influence this relationship. Our esteemed invited speaker Dr. Pamela Dodrill will present data on tracking the corrected age when infants admitted to the NICU reach key feeding milestones, including age at start of PO feeds, full PO feeds, and PO feeds without requiring therapeutic compensations. To ascertain these data, the Functional Oral Intake Scale- Pediatric was used to to track PO progress in infants during their NICU stay and across the first year at home. Within- and between- rater reliability was established. A retrospective chart review was performed for infants admitted to a large Level III NICU 2018-2021. Data suggest that evidence-based reporting tools assist in monitoring of patient outcomes. Through implementation of the feeding scale, clinicians are better able to guide staff and parent expectations regarding age at attainment of PO feeding milestones, and plan appropriate support services for infants continuing to need therapeutic compensations to feed safely. Following the presentation, there will be a question and answer period.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion, participants will be able to understand connections between biomechanical sucking data and oral feeding outcomes
Upon completion, participants will be able to determine how physiological-based oral feeding and sucking metrics relate to parental report.
Upon completion, participants will be able to describe how feeding scales allow for better tracking of feeding milestones to better service the patient and families.

Presentations:

12:30 PM – 12:40 PM ET

An examination of biomechanical sucking data and oral feeding outcomes.
Speaker: Steven M. Barlow, MS, PhD – University of Nebraska-Lincoln
12:50 PM – 1:50 PM ET

The importance of tracking functional feeding outcomes in the newborn period and throughout childhood
Speaker: Pamela Dodrill, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-S (she/her/hers) – Brigham and Women's Hospital
1:50 PM – 2:00 PM ET

Q&A
Speaker: Emily Zimmerman, PhD.,CCC-SLP (she/her/hers) – Northeastern University
Speaker: Steven M. Barlow, MS, PhD – University of Nebraska-Lincoln