Study on the Effect of Early Oral Motor Intervention in Preterm Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Objective: To study the effective value of introducing the concept of early oral exercise in the process of nursing intervention for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: 96 cases of preterm infants diagnosed from January 2022 to August 2022 were selected and randomly divided into two groups: the general practice group (general nursing intervention), and the early practice group (early oral exercise intervention), and the effect of intervention on preterm infants in the two groups was observed. Results: After nursing care, the mean value of the non-nutritive sucking ability assessment (76.54 ± 5.82), the mean value of the intellectual development degree assessment (104.57 ± 8.45), the mean value of the psychomotor development degree assessment (102.33 ± 6.74), and the mean value of behavioral neural reflexes ability assessment (38.71 ± 2.40) in the early practice group were better than that as compared to the general practice group (P < 0.05); the mean value of oral feeding start time of preterm infants in the early practice group (35.42 ± 7.63) weeks, the mean value of all oral feeding time (34.12 ± 5.28) weeks, and the mean time of hospital intervention (15.33 ± 4.25) days were lesser than compared to those of the general practice group at 37.4 ± 5.82 weeks, 37.46 ± 3.55 weeks, and 20.46 ± 2.91 days, respectively (P < 0.05); the rate of adverse reactions in preterm infants in the early practice group significantly lower than that of the general practice group (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The introduction of the concept of early oral exercise intervention among NICU nurses improved the feeding effect, sucking ability of preterm infants, and intellectual development. Hence, early oral motor care should be popularized.