title: Analysis of facial and inspiratory muscles performance during breastfeeding.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breastfeeding is a dynamic process in which the infant recruits several muscle groups in his face, head and throat.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to explore the relative role of the submental muscle group, the orbicularis oris and the sternocleidomastoid muscles to breastfeeding process and to the relatively high intra-oral vacuum measured during this process.
  
  
  METHODS
  Electromyography (EMG) measurements were conducted on 11 infants (mean age 1.91 ± 1.0 days, mean weight 3364 ± 328 g) using surface electrodes. The EMG data were filtered with a low pass filter to yield the linear envelopes (IEMG). The maximal and mean value and the area under each linear envelope curve were examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During active suckling significantly higher activity (P< 0.05) of the submental muscle group were measured compared with the orbicularis oris and sternocleidomastoid muscles (mean ± SE values of the maximal linear envelope were 24.4 ± 1 μV, 9.6 ± 0.6 μV and 14 ± 0.7 μV, respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirmed that jaw movements have the primary role during breastfeeding, but also revealed that the inspiratory muscles have a substantial contribution to this process and probably have an important role in the generation of intra oral vacuum measured during breastfeeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Engineering, Afeka College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ratnovsky
authors.forename: Yael Nadlin
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Carmeli
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elad
authors.forename: Uri
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Zaretsky
authors.forename: Shaul
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dollberg
authors.forename: Dror
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mandel
mesh_terms: D001942:Breast Feeding; D004576:Electromyography; D005152:Facial Muscles / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D013391:Sucking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Breastfeeding; electromyography (EMG); infant development; signal processing