The Internet of Things is now helping a hospital's tiniest patients.

Atlanta-based NFANT Labs has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance for an mHealth device that helps Neonatal Intensive Care Unit caregivers determine whether a baby is ready to be weaned off a feeding tube.

[See also: Contact-free sensors make a play for NICUs]

The nfant Feeding Solution consists of a disposable device, called a coupling, that sits between a baby bottle used in the NICU and the nipple. Reusable sensors embedded in the coupling measure n infant's tongue movement during feeding, sending that data to a smart device for real-time analysis and cloud storage. Clinicians viewing the data can also check data from past feedings to determine and infant's progress in developing feeding skills.

"Many infants in the NICU have trouble transitioning from tube feeding to bottle or breast feeding and these problems often lead to delays in patient discharge," Gilson Capilouto, PhD, a professor at the University of Kentucky's College of Health Sciences and co-founder of NFANT Labs, said in a release. "Our product focuses on tongue movement, since the tongue plays a major role in safe swallow during feeding. Like any muscle, it's equipped with strength properties that can be measured and rehabilitated. Through nfant Feeding Solution we have created the first and only medical device that can determine an infant's tongue movement during feeding and offer a method to capture and return data to the caregiver."

Leo Malice, NFANT Labs' CEO, said as many as 70 percent of the 540,000 premature babies born each year in the in the nation's 1,100 NICUs experience feeding problems, and clinicians generally depend on visual cues, their own experience and even trial and error in determining when an infant has developed enough to transition to bottle or breast feeding.

[See also: mHealth technology finds its niche in protecting patients and staff]

Peter Giannone, chief of Neonatology at the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital, said the new sensor system gives clinicians objective data on which to base their decisions, thereby reducing the chance of complications from weaning a high-risk infant off assisted feeding too early.

Launched in 2013, NFANT Labs expects to begin shipping the technology to NICUs before the end of the year, and will look to expand its market next year.

[See also: Wearable tech targets addictions]