At the NICU where I worked, a respiratory rate of 60-70 was considered the
cut-off for allowing any type of PO feed. However, resp rate was just one
piece of the picture. So if the baby looked well otherwise, s/he would
usually be allowed to nurse, but within the NICU with a pulse oximeter on.
I once asked one of the neos why 60 was the magic number for aspiration
risk, if there were actually any studies documenting that, and he couldn't
tell me.

I should think the fact that the baby's resp rate is actually lower while
he's at the breast would tell the NICU staff that the breastfeeding
(or "just" the skin-to-skin contact) is helping the baby adapt to the
extrauterine world!!

Jennifer Herrin, RN, IBCLC
Germany

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