| abstract |
The present invention relates to a system device and method for monitoring infant oral motor kinetics (OMK), which can be used to assess the functional significance of the different sucking components, i.e., the plasticity of infant sucking skills in relation to their oral feeding performance, at a particular time, during the developmental period and/or during preventive or therapeutic intervention programs. It is a unique system and apparatus that provides a means to study the nonnutritive and/or nutritive sucking skills, i.e., the Suction and/or Expression components of sucking, of infants in the natural setting, i.e., during a normal feeding session. OMK sensors, tracked in real-time by the monitoring system, include miniature pressure transducers, or pressure sensitive pads, attached to the nipple for measuring intraoral pressure pulses during Suction, and for measuring compression/stripping pressure pulses during Expression; and a miniature flow sensor for measuring fluid flow rate, which can be integrated over time to determine the volume of milk removed (bolus) per suck. Other signals, such as respiration, swallowing, thermal, optical, and acoustic signals can be recorded and compared along with the instrumented-nipple signals, in an OMK monitoring system. |