Exposure and reactivity of the preterm infant to noise in the incubator.

Purpose: To evaluate preterm infants' exposure and reactions to intense noise during incubator care.

Methods: An observational and prospective study was performed in the intermediary care unit of a hospital in Ribeirão Preto (SP). Thirty-five preterm infants participated in the first stage of the study (measuring noise) and 20 in the second (analysis of responses to intense noise).

[Reliability of an instrument to assess the readiness of preterm infants for oral feeding].

Background: The transition from gastric to oral feeding of preterm infants is one of the greatest concerns of health professionals and therefore needs an objective criterion to support the beginning of this process.

Aim: To test the reliability of an instrument that assesses the readiness of preterm infants for the transition from gastric to oral feeding.

Method: The instrument is composed by the following items: corrected gestational age; behavioral state; global posture and tonus; lips and tongue posture; rooting, suck, bite and gag reflexes; tongue and jaw movements; tongue cupping; sucking strain; sucking and pause; maintenance sucking/pause; maintenance alert state and stress signs.