ORGANISMIC DETERMINANTS OF SPONTANEOUS ORAL DEHVIOR IN NEONTES

Frequency of mouthing, finger sucking, hand-face and hand-mouth contacting was recorded of 32 full-term, 2-3-day-old bottle-fed neonates and each of the oral behaviors showed highly significant differences among infants and was associated with high levels of arousal.

Abstract

Frequency of mouthing, finger sucking, hand-face and hand-mouth contacting was recorded from 1,000 feet of film taken of each of 32 full-term, 2-3-day-old bottle-fed neonates. Finger sucking, hand-face and hand-mouth contacting were highly intercorrelated, whereas mouthing was not related to any of these measures. Each of the oral behaviors showed highly significant differences among infants and was associated with high levels of arousal. Only mouthing was hunger related to a significant degree. Finger sucking, hand-face and hand-mouth contacting were significantly related to high motility and endurance of crying, whereas mouthing was associated with neither of these tendencies. Success in behaviors commonly considered to be tension reducing, such as finger sucking and hand-mouth contacting, was facilitated by a reliance on small multiple motions. The associations of organismic tendencies found among the neonates are discussed in terms of their potential significance for differential early experience and for the detection of temperamental differences among infants.