Are Sucking Patterns and Early Spontaneous Movements Related to Later Developmental Functioning Outcomes? A Cohort Study

Overview

Journal Eur J Pediatr

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2024 Jan 13

PMID 38217695

Authors

Bilge N Yardimci-Lokmanoglu

Numan Demir

Dogan Porsnok

Gulsen Sirtbas-Isik

Emre Cengiz

Selen Serel-Arslan

Akmer Mutlu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Sucking patterns and early spontaneous movements have an important role in the determination of later developmental problems, but the relationship of the two together with long-term outcomes has not been investigated. The objectives of this study were to (i) examine the relationship between sucking patterns using the Neonatal Oral Motor Assessment Scale (NOMAS) and fidgety movements and other movement patterns using detailed General Movements Assessment (GMA), and (ii) investigate the relationship between these early assessment methods and developmental functioning outcomes at later ages. We analyzed the NOMAS from 34 weeks' postmenstrual age up to 10 weeks post-term and GMA between 9 and 20 weeks post-term age, and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-Third Edition (Bayley-III) was applied for the developmental functioning outcomes to 62 infants (61%, 62/102) between 12 and 42 months of age. Among 102 infants at-risk, 70 (69%) showed a normal sucking pattern, and 85 (83%) had fidgety movements. The median Motor Optimality Score-Revised (MOS-R), as determined by GMA, of all infants was 24. The NOMAS was related to the MOS-R and its subcategories (p < 0.05) in all infants at-risk. The NOMAS, MOS-R and its subcategories were also related to cognitive, language, and motor development at later ages according to Bayley-III (p < 0.05). Conclusion: This longitudinal study showed that the quality of sucking patterns, fidgety movements, and MOS-R were related to later developmental functioning, indicating that abnormal sucking patterns, aberrant fidgety movements, and lower MOS-R might predict developmental disorders. What is Known: • Sucking patterns and early spontaneous movements in which central pattern generators play an important role are related. • Sucking patterns and early spontaneous movements might be used separately to predict developmental outcomes. What is New: • Sucking patterns and early spontaneous movements, when used together, were related to later developmental functioning, including cognitive, language, and motor development in at-risk infants. • Predictive value of sucking patterns was lower for each developmental functioning outcome than early spontaneous movements.

Citing Articles

Elucidation of Factors Affecting Anterior Occlusion in Primary Dentition Based on the Japan Environment and Children's Study.

Ishiko R, Sena K, Koseki I, Sasai M, Ota C, Koseki T Children (Basel). 2025; 12(2).

PMID: 40003356 PMC: 11854741. DOI: 10.3390/children12020254.

References

Salavati S, Einspieler C, Vagelli G, Zhang D, Pansy J, Burgerhof J . The association between the early motor repertoire and language development in term children born after normal pregnancy. Early Hum Dev. 2017; 111:30-35. PMC: 5951278. DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2017.05.006. View

Wolthuis-Stigter M, Costa S, Bos A, Krijnen W, van der Schans C, Luinge M . Sucking behaviour in infants born preterm and developmental outcomes at primary school age. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2017; 59(8):871-877. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.13438. View

Einspieler C, PRECHTL H, Ferrari F, Cioni G, Bos A . The qualitative assessment of general movements in preterm, term and young infants--review of the methodology. Early Hum Dev. 1998; 50(1):47-60. DOI: 10.1016/s0378-3782(97)00092-3. View

Yang H, Einspieler C, Shi W, Marschik P, Wang Y, Cao Y . Cerebral palsy in children: movements and postures during early infancy, dependent on preterm vs. full term birth. Early Hum Dev. 2012; 88(10):837-43. PMC: 3437561. DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2012.06.004. View

Barlow S . Central pattern generation involved in oral and respiratory control for feeding in the term infant. Curr Opin Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2009; 17(3):187-93. PMC: 2748797. DOI: 10.1097/MOO.0b013e32832b312a. View

PRECHTL H, Einspieler C, Cioni G, Bos A, Ferrari F, Sontheimer D . An early marker for neurological deficits after perinatal brain lesions. Lancet. 1997; 349(9062):1361-3. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(96)10182-3. View

Costa S, Hubl N, Kaufman N, Bos A . New scoring system improves inter-rater reliability of the Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment Scale. Acta Paediatr. 2016; 105(8):e339-44. DOI: 10.1111/apa.13461. View

Porges S, Furman S . The Early Development of the Autonomic Nervous System Provides a Neural Platform for Social Behavior: A Polyvagal Perspective. Infant Child Dev. 2011; 20(1):106-118. PMC: 3079208. DOI: 10.1002/icd.688. View

Einspieler C, Bos A, Krieber-Tomantschger M, Alvarado E, Barbosa V, Bertoncelli N . Cerebral Palsy: Early Markers of Clinical Phenotype and Functional Outcome. J Clin Med. 2019; 8(10). PMC: 6833082. DOI: 10.3390/jcm8101616. View

10.

Bruggink J, Cioni G, Einspieler C, Maathuis C, Pascale R, Bos A . Early motor repertoire is related to level of self-mobility in children with cerebral palsy at school age. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2009; 51(11):878-85. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.2009.03294.x. View

11.

Greene M, Patra K, Silvestri J, Nelson M . Re-evaluating preterm infants with the Bayley-III: patterns and predictors of change. Res Dev Disabil. 2013; 34(7):2107-17. DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.04.001. View

12.

Yuge M, Marschik P, Nakajima Y, Yamori Y, Kanda T, Hirota H . Movements and postures of infants aged 3 to 5 months: to what extent is their optimality related to perinatal events and to the neurological outcome?. Early Hum Dev. 2011; 87(3):231-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2010.12.046. View

13.

Hadders-Algra M . Neural substrate and clinical significance of general movements: an update. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2017; 60(1):39-46. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.13540. View

14.

Lau C . Development of infant oral feeding skills: what do we know?. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016; 103(2):616S-21S. PMC: 4733254. DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.115.109603. View

15.

Bosanquet M, Copeland L, Ware R, Boyd R . A systematic review of tests to predict cerebral palsy in young children. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2013; 55(5):418-26. DOI: 10.1111/dmcn.12140. View

16.

Mistry S, Hamdy S . Neural control of feeding and swallowing. Phys Med Rehabil Clin N Am. 2008; 19(4):709-28, vii-viii. DOI: 10.1016/j.pmr.2008.05.002. View

17.

Topal Y, Yardimci-Lokmanoglu B, Topuz S, Mutlu A . Early spontaneous movements and spatiotemporal gait characteristics in preterm children. Eur J Pediatr. 2023; 182(6):2913-2923. DOI: 10.1007/s00431-023-04949-7. View

18.

Palmer M, Crawley K, Blanco I . Neonatal Oral-Motor Assessment scale: a reliability study. J Perinatol. 1993; 13(1):28-35. View

19.

Kostovic I, Sedmak G, Vuksic M, Judas M . The relevance of human fetal subplate zone for developmental neuropathology of neuronal migration disorders and cortical dysplasia. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2014; 21(2):74-82. PMC: 6495198. DOI: 10.1111/cns.12333. View

20.

Yi Y, Oh B, Shin S, Shin J, Kim E, Shin H . Association of uncoordinated sucking pattern with developmental outcome in premature infants: a retrospective analysis. BMC Pediatr. 2019; 19(1):440. PMC: 6854670. DOI: 10.1186/s12887-019-1811-1. View