title: The effect of nursing on the brain activity of the newborn.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether nursing influences brain activity in the newborn and whether there are differences in this respect between breast- or bottle-feeding and pacifier sucking.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty unselected volunteer mothers and their healthy full-term infants, under care in the maternity ward after delivery, served as subjects. Thirty mother-infant pairs were studied in relation to breast-feeding and 20 to bottle-feeding and pacifier sucking. Breast-fed infants were studied between the 1st and 7th day after delivery (mean +/- 2.7 days) and the infants in the bottle-fed group between the 1st and 8th day after delivery (mean +/- 3.3 days).
  
  
  METHODS
  Qualitative and quantitative electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooculogram, submental electromyogram, and electrocardiogram were recorded before, during and after breast- and bottle-feeding and pacifier sucking.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The amplitude of the EEG increased significantly during breast-feeding in the posterior cortical areas in both hemispheres with a slight predominance on the right. Bottle-feeding caused a similar, but somewhat less marked change. When the breast- and bottle-fed infants were compared, a significant difference was found in only one parameter of the 84 studied. Pacifier sucking had no significant effects on EEG activity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nursing effects a change in the brain activity of the newborn. The cortical response to nursing is most probably a result of activation of the neurohumoral mechanisms related to hunger and satisfaction, including the hypothalamic, limbic, and other brain stem structures, which also regulate the sleep-wake cycle and modulate the level of cortical activity with respect to attention and vigilance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lehtonen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Könönen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Purhonen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Partanen
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saarikoski
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Launiala
mesh_terms: D001903:Bottle Feeding; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001942:Breast Feeding; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D004585:Electrooculography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007224:Infant Care; D007225:Infant Food; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D013391:Sucking Behavior / Q000502:physiology