The ability to statistically segment a continuous auditory stream is one of the most important preparations for initiating language learning. Such ability is available to human infants at 8 months of age, as shown by a behavioral measurement. However, behavioral study alone cannot determine how early this ability is available. A recent study using measurements of event-related potential (ERP) revealed that neonates are able to detect statistical boundaries within auditory streams of speech syllables. Extending this line of research will allow us to better understand the cognitive preparation for language acquisition that is available to neonates. The aim of the present study was to examine the domain-generality of such statistical segmentation. Neonates were presented with nonlinguistic tone sequences composed of four tritone units, each consisting of three semitones extracted from one octave, for two 5-minute sessions. Only the first tone of each unit evoked a significant positivity in the frontal area during the second session, but not in the first session. This result suggests that the general ability to distinguish units in an auditory stream by statistical information is activated at birth and is probably innately prepared in humans.

Aim: To determine the effects of mother‐infant skin‐to‐skin contact immediately after birth on infant recognition of their own mother's milk odour and breastfeeding duration until 1 y of age. Methods: Sixty healthy, full‐term neonates were randomly assigned to group A with skin‐to‐skin contact and group B without. One and 4d after birth, infant responses to the following odour stimuli were observed: own mother's milk, another mother's milk, formula, orange juice and distilled water. Infant facial action was videotaped and the frequency of mouthing movements was evaluated for each stimulus. Nutritional assessment, focused particularly on breastfeeding, was performed every 3 mo on participating infants. Statistical analysis comparing the frequency of mouthing movements with the aforementioned five different odour exposures was performed by ANOVA with Fisher's PLSD. Kaplan‐Meier analysis with a log‐rank test was used to compare breastfeeding rates between groups. Results: Infants in both groups responded differently to mother's milk odour (either their own or another mother's milk) compared to the other stimuli on days 1 and 4. However, infants in group A demonstrated a larger difference in mouthing movements between their own and another mother's milk odour at 4 d of age (2.6 ±; 1.6) compared to infants in group B (0.9 ±; 2.0, p= 0.01). Infants in group A were breastfed an average of 1.9 mo longer than the others. Conclusion: Our study provides evidence that mother‐infant skin‐to‐skin contact for more than 50 min immediately after birth results in enhanced infant recognition of their own mother's milk odour and longer breastfeeding duration.

These study results demonstrate that milk synthesis differs in each mammary lobe, even in the same breast. The degree of fullness in each mammary lobe seems to play the most important role in the fat content. The protein content in the milk from each mammary lobe is determined by other factors, presumably by the feedback inhibitor of lactation, accumulated in the corresponding mammary lobe.

The results revealed that deep attachment is helpful in draining milk from all mammary lobe uniformly, which may contribute to successful breastfeeding.

Our study provides evidence that mother-infant skin-to-skin contact for more than 50 min immediately after birth results in enhanced infant recognition of their own mother's milk odour and longer breastfeeding duration.