Devorah,
You make an important point.  Doing a suck exam without fluid flow does
not give the information we need.  Using some fluid (fingerfeeding, even
if only with water) is important during a digital suck assessment, as
many infants with good non-nutritive sucking skills have difficulty with
nutritive sucking.  Using fluid allows the LC to assess coordination of
suck-swallow-breathe as well as sucking mechanics, which may be very
different if all the baby is handling is it's own secretions.
--
Catherine Watson Genna, IBCLC  NYC  [log in to unmask]