NTrainer® Pacifier System
The NTrainer (EN tray ner) is a special pacifier used to help premature babies with feeding.
Many babies born before 35 weeks have trouble learning to breast or bottle feed and breathe at the same time. We use the NTrainer to work with your baby to improve:
- Drinking from the breast or the bottle during feedings
- Swallowing milk or formula
- Breathing without the support of oxygen or pacing. Pacing means controlling the amount of milk or formula the baby can take in with each drink. This helps to regulate breathing.
Your baby needs to be able to suck, swallow and breathe while feeding. This is called the Suck-Swallow-Breathe pattern. The baby needs to learn these skills for successful feeding before going home. The NTrainer helps babies to develop these skills faster.
How the NTrainer Works
The NTrainer pacifier helps your baby learn to coordinate sucking, swallowing and breathing with feeding. Babies use the NTrainer with the help of a physical or occupational therapist. The therapist holds onto a handle that is attached to the pacifier in the baby’s mouth. The NTrainer has two settings to check your baby’s progress. The NTrainer can be used during a tube (gavage) feeding. While the baby uses the pacifier, a computer graph shows burst, strength, and pattern (Picture 1). This helps to assess the baby’s skill at feeding.
Assessment
This setting tells the therapist how coordinated and strong your baby’s suck-swallow-breathe pattern is before he or she feeds from bottle or breast.
Therapy
This setting sends pulses through the pacifier to encourage the baby to suck and breathe to a different rhythm.
Please talk with your baby’s nurse or therapist if you have any questions.
This document used by The Ohio State University Medical Center with the permission of Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
NTrainer® Pacifier System (PDF)
HH-IV-149 3/19, | Copyright 2019, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
