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Author Spotlight: Implications of Non-Nutritive Sucking on Speech Emergence and Infant Development
Published on: April 19, 2024
Behavioral and physiological consequences of suckling in rat and human newborns
1Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
Abstract:
Suckling, in addition to yielding milk, water and calories, exerts profound behavioral effects on newborn rats and humans. In particular, suckling induces feelings of calm, reduces heart rate and metabolic rate, causes infants to bring their hands to their mouths and elevates the pain threshold. These changes are mediated by opioid and non-opioid systems, each having its own separate behavioral and neurological characteristics. The implications of suckling-induced changes for long-term motivational and cognitive change are discussed.
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