Did you know…live, organized, entrained, rhythmic sounds or music can improve sustained sucking patterns in term and preterm infants!
Akca & Aytekin (2014) studied the effect of soothing noise on the sucking outcomes of full term infants as measured on the LATCH breastfeeding assessment tool. Sixty-four infants in the experimental group were exposed to the song “Don’t Let Your Baby Cry-2” from the album “Colic” released by Othan Osman of the On Music Production Company compared to 63 infants in the control group who were not exposed to the music. The music was played during the first breastfeeding after birth and again 24 hours later. The LATCH scores in the experimental group (8.61+1.37) who were exposed to the music were found to be significantly higher than in the control group (6.52+1.79). Music therapy interventions may be a low cost, non-invasive method of improving sucking and overall feeding outcomes. Music therapy has been shown to improve sucking in preterm infants, especially live music when a lullaby was sung by a parent or when the infant was exposed to entrained rhythms from a gato box that simulates a heartbeat sound that the infant would hear in utero (Loewy, Stewart, Dassier, Telsey, & Homel, 2013).
Akca, K., & Aytekin, A. (2014). Effect of soothing noise on sucking success of newborns. Breastfeeding Medicine, 9, 538-542.Loewy, J., Stewart, K., Dassier, A-M., Telsey, A., & Homel, P. (2013). The effects of music therapy on vital signs, feeding, and sleep in premature infants. Pediatrics, 131, 902-918.
As someone who has studies both breastfeeding and music therapy I am interested about this research. One concern I have is that the LATCH tool is not a psychometrically sound tool. But, I do think it’s interesting that the music could possibly have had a memory effect. I would want to know more about the birth setting as well and other factors that could influence breastfeeding outcomes, like C-sections, etc…
We’ve used music with preemies for years. Baroque music is what I’ve always used.