The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively to all newborns until the sixth month and on a complementary basis, until the second year of life. Thus, some techniques are performed in order to facilitate the breastfeeding, including the use of a cup and recently using the "probe-finger" technique. This practice is very controversial and there are few studies addressing the description of the technique, and indications and usage. This study aims at reporting the clinical experience in order to show and use the "finger-probe" technique. The "probe-finger" technique is offering milk, preferably human milk, using a gastric tube connected to a syringe plunger and fixed on a gloved finger with a tape. The probe is positioned in the oral cavity of the newborn and should serve as a technical aid for sucking adequacy. Thus, it is suggested that his statement should be done just in cases where an oral dysfunction is characterized, either in newborns at term or preterm. Given the specific evaluation performed by the speech therapist, indicating the "probe-finger" technique in order to adjust the changes obtained in the evaluation of non-nutritive sucking or breastfeeding. It is believed that the "probe-finger" technique is recommended as a supplement to breastfeeding, and should be further investigated in order to clarify the impact of the "probe-finger" technique on the prevalence of breast-feeding and oral motor development of born infants.
Newborn; Feeding; Breastfeeding