NICU Feeding Program

At UMass Memorial Medical Center – Children’s Medical Center, the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) team uses a nurturing and compassionate approach to support you and your baby throughout the feeding process.

As the region’s only Level III NICU, we use the latest evidence-based techniques to care for our youngest patients. That’s why we use the Infant-Driven Feeding (IDF) Program to make the feeding process more consistent and personalized for your baby’s unique needs. 

Traditionally, feeding in the NICU focused on giving infants a set volume of milk each day. However, this approach doesn’t consider each infant’s readiness to feed or issues with sucking, swallowing and breathing. IDF is designed around your baby’s individual readiness cues to help them get the nutrition they need and have a more positive feeding experience.

How Infant-Driven Feeding Works

IDF considers many factors, including your baby’s age, weight, development stage, medical needs and feeding cues. It uses three scales that focus on supporting your baby to eat safely, comfortably and effectively: 

• Readiness scale: We look for cues that your baby is ready to begin breast or bottle feeding. Signs your baby is ready to eat by mouth can include sucking on a pacifier, bringing hands to mouth or waking up before care time.
• Quality scale: We evaluate how well your baby sucks, swallows and breathes during feeding. We readjust the feeding approach if a baby shows signs of discomfort or stress such as coughing, pulling away, or losing milk from their mouth.
• Caregiver support strategies: No matter what stage of feeding a baby is at, caregivers can help make the journey a positive one. Good positioning, reduced nipple flow rates, and pacing strategies help babies feel safe and nurtured while learning to feed. 

Benefits of Infant-Driven Feeding for Neonatal Nutrition

• Infant-driven feeding provides many benefits for premature babies or newborns with special medical needs, including:
• Increased breastfeeding rates
• Shorter hospital stays
• Quicker oral feeding
• Enhanced family involvement 
• Improved weight gain and development
• Reduced risk of oral aversion or eating problems later in life