New device could identify which babies will struggle with breastfeeding

"The hope is that something like this would provide concrete data that would help clinicians identify if there will be any issues with suckling," Friend said. "It can be very frustrating to identify what's going wrong."

Walsh agreed.

"We hope to save families time and resources and get them the correct intervention in a timely manner," Walsh said. "By the time I see cases, they've often already met with five feeding specialists or lactation consultants, and they've had five different opinions on the baby's suckling."

Proven to be very beneficial for both babies and mothers, breastfeeding does not endure is most cases.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while 83.2 percent of babies born in 2019 were at least partially breastfed at birth, the number fell to just 55.8 percent by six months of age and to 35.9 percent at the one-year mark. Nearly 63 percent of babies were said to be exclusively breastfed at birth with only about 25 percent still in that category by six months of age.

The findings seem to be well received. Ellen Chetwynd, editor in chief of the Journal of Human Lactation who teaches rural maternity care at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, called the findings exciting, though the factor measured, non-nutritive suckling, is not a complete measure, in and of itself, of breastfeeding effectiveness. Non-nutritive suckling is defined as sucking behavior that is not involved in feeding.

"We use the mother's satisfaction with breastfeeding and the infant's successful weight gain as our parameters of success," Chetwynd said in an email after reviewing the paper. "While these outcomes are clinically relevant, they are difficult to scientifically quantify.

"This tool would provide a measure of change that could help move the field forward, visually displaying whether change has occurred," Chetwynd said.

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This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.