Sucking Movements During Sleep in the Newborn Baby

Abstract

THE EEG and the concurrent changes in physical state of the newborn baby during eye-movement sleep have been well described (Dreyfns-Brisac and Monod, 1965;Monod and Pajot, 1965;Goldie and van Velzer, 1965;Roffward, Muzio and Dement, 1966;Prechtl and Lenard, 1967;Parmelee et al., 1968;Goldie et al., 1970). These studies have clearly established the association of eye-movements, frequent small body movements, faster and more irregular pulse and respiration rate, with a pattern of continuous EEG activity which lasts for approximately 75 per cent of each sleep cyclie of one hour. In non-eye-movement sleep, lasting for approximately 25 per cent of the sleep cycle, the child lies completely still apart from occasional startles, the pulse and respiration are slower and more regular, and the EEG has a regular periodicity, with high amplitude activity which lasts 1-2 sec, alternating regularly with low amplitude activity which lasts 6-8 sec.This paper described the occurrence of spontaneous sucking movements during these different clinical phases of sleep, and relates them to the EEG changes, METHODSThirty babies were investigated. They had been admitted to the neonatal ward because of low birth weight, or an intercurrent illness in an otherwise normal newborn baby which necessitated its transfer from the lying-in wards. The clinical data on these babies is shown in Table 1. Their gestation, ranged from 29/52 weeks to past term, and their birth weight from 820 g to 3560 g.The EEGs were recorded on a 16-channel Kaiser electroencephalograph, using nine standard silver cup electrodes. The scalp was prepared with acetone and electrode paste, and the electrodes were secured with a small square gauze soaked in simple collodion. Eye movements were not recorded mechanically due to the difficulty in scaling down eye-movement recorders for use in babies of under 1500 g. body weight, but were closely observed and noted on the record by the technician. All recordings were bipolar, using both longitudinal and transverse montage. A time constant of 0*3 sec was used, and the amplification was lOuV/mm pen deflection. The paper speed varied from 10 to 30 mm/sec; 30 mm/sec was most commonly used. Two silver cup electrodes were attached under the chin with S.L.E. self-

EEG Frequency Spectrum Characteristics of Sleep States in Full-Term and Preterm Infants1

“…During quiet sleep the baby was lying relaxed with closed eyes and no body movements except for occasional body jerks and sucking mouth movements (Goldie et al 1970). The polygraphic record showed regular respira-Both intra-and interindividual stations with very small changes in the tistical evaluation was performed on respiratory rate: (changes in respiraan IBM 360 computer using one-way tory frequency of less than 20 cycles/ or two-way analysis of variance and minute were assessed as a regular re-Duncan's multiple range test.…”

A study on the association between eye movements and regular mouthing movements (RMMs) in normal fetuses between 24 to 39 weeks of gestation

“…A study of full-term human infants has reported that RMM clusters appear in association with high-amplitude slow waves that are characteristic of non-REM sleep [6]. In animal experiments using rats, it has been reported that the development of slow waves is associated with synaptic plasticity and cerebral cortex maturation [7,8].…”