According to the work over the last 10 years of neonatologist, Dr.
Marina Marcovich in Vienna, Austria, in her approach to the humane care
of the very low birthweight premie, infants in the 700-800 gram range
can actively nurse at the breast. Her approach, however, minimizes
medication and invasive procedures from birth, which allows these
behaviors to manifest earlier than we are accustomed to seeing. However,
very young, small infants seem to be quite capable if the environment
supports them in their feeding efforts. German television did a
documentary about her NICU and filmed an infant this small at approx 28
weeks gestation nursing with a good suck-pause rhythm, full circular jaw
motion with the swallow pause at the bottom of the jaw rotation,
bright-eyed and interested. Her approach is being replicated in two
other NICUs in Germany. These infants continue to breastfeed well after
discharge. She presented this material (including the clip from the
video) at LLL 1996 U.S. Western Division Conference in Anaheim, August
1-4, 1996. An audio tape of her outstanding presentation, session A403,
titled "Preterm Infants, Kangaroo Care, and the Marcovich Model," is
available through Dreamline Productions, 1617 E. 17th st., Suite 5,
Santa Ana, CA 92705, 714-972-8291.
Katharine