Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · May 2006
Randomized Controlled TrialRandomised, double blind trial of oxytocin nasal spray in mothers expressing breast milk for preterm infants.
Human milk has considerable short and long term benefits for preterm infants, but mothers may experience difficulties in expressing breast milk for infants too immature or sick to breast feed. Oxytocin has been used to assist breast feeding and milk expression, but few data are available to support this intervention in the neonatal unit setting. ⋯ Despite marginal differences in the pattern of early milk production, the use of oxytocin nasal spray did not significantly improve outcome. Most mothers believed they were receiving the active spray, suggesting a significant placebo effect (supported by limited data from historical controls) and benefits from the extra breast feeding support available during the study.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · May 2006
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudySucrose and non-nutritive sucking for the relief of pain in screening for retinopathy of prematurity: a randomised controlled trial.
Screening is necessary for infants at risk of retinopathy of prematurity. Despite local anaesthetic drops, infants find eye examinations distressing, displaying behavioural and physiological changes indicating acute pain. Oral sucrose and non-nutritive sucking reduce pain responses associated with invasive procedures. ⋯ Non-nutritive sucking reduced distress responses in infants undergoing screening for retinopathy of prematurity. The difference in response was large enough to be detected by a validated assessment tool. No synergistic effect of sucrose and pacifier was apparent in this group.
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Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. · May 2006
Predicting successful extubation of very low birthweight infants.
To determine the accuracy of three tests used to predict successful extubation of preterm infants. ⋯ The SBT used just before extubation of infants <1250 g may reduce the number of extubation failures. Further studies are required to establish whether the SBT can be used as the primary determinant of an infant's readiness for extubation.