Speech and language therapy interventions for infants with feeding difficulties: considerations for service provision

Premature and medically fragile term infants receiving care on a neonatal unit are likely to have feeding difficulties. The provision of assessment and intervention from speech and language therapy (SLT) is vital as it improves short- and long-term feeding outcomes, which can reduce length of stay and improve quality of life for infants and their families. The anticipated investment in maternity services and a surge of funding for allied health professionals on neonatal units should improve service provision, including SLT, and have a positive impact on infant outcomes. This paper outlines the suck feeding journey and an ideal model of care for these infants, which focusses on improving neurodevelopmental outcomes.

Nicoll Bell
Clinical Lead Speech and Language Therapist for Neonates, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
nicoll.bell@nhs.net

Bell N. Speech and language therapy interventions for infants with feeding difficulties: considerations for service provision. Infant 2024; 20(1): 29-31.

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Keywords

feeding difficulties; speech and language therapy; neonatal care; models of care

Key points

Many infants receiving care on a neonatal unit will have feeding difficulties.
Specialist assessment and intervention from a SLT can improve feeding outcomes.
Data showing the outcomes of specific SLT intervention are limited.
Having normative data for infants’ feeding journeys distributed by gestational age, will provide valuable information for advising parents of possible feeding timelines and inform staffing guidelines for SLTs.

Also published in Infant:

VOLUME 18 ISSUE 6/NOVEMBER 2022

Introducing the new neonatal Operational Delivery Network speech and language therapists

The lack of appropriate allied health professional (AHP) expertise within neonatal care has been formally recognised in recent years. This article reviews the background to the new neonatal Operational Delivery Network AHP and psychology strategic roles and how they are working to support neonatal workforce transformation plans. We explore how an expert neonatal speech and language therapist (SLT) workforce will complement the existing medical and nursing teams’ expertise and review some of the challenges of current models of SLT provision.