HELPING PREEMIES THRIVE
In the blue neon glow of neonatal intensive care cribs, feeding and oxygen tubes nearly hide tiny premature infants. No wonder such babies often fail to develop the crucial sucking motion that is essential to nourishment as well as other muscle development.
Enter Steven Barlow, professor and director of KU’s Communication Neuroscience Laboratories, and University of Northern Colorado assistant professor Donald Finan, who developed the KU-patented and FDA-approved NTrainer.
This therapeutic device teaches preemies how to develop the rhythms of sucking, which also may enhance language development.
Clinical trials of the NTrainer are under way in two Kansas hospitals. One hope is that the therapy may shorten hospital stays.“In today’s health care environment,” Barlow says,“being able to send a baby home just one week earlier could save nearly $30,000 in medical costs.”
