| In healthy infants, as in healthy adults, coordination of respiration and swallowing is rhythmic and precise. However, as different feeding tasks are introduced to the infant, previously established synergies are thought to become perturbed. No studies to date have examined the coordination of respiration and swallowing during emerging spoon feeding, a motor task introduced early in life. The dissertation examined data on what transpires when such a new motor task is superimposed on the existing synergies of swallowing and breathing. The specific research questions were as follows: (1) Does the respiratory cycle during swallowing change when spoon feeding is introduced in healthy infants? (2) What changes in the coordination of swallowing and breathing occur when an infant transitions from nipple to spoon feeding? (3) What changes occur as spoon feeding becomes habituated?;The temporal breathing patterns upon swallowing of seven healthy full-term infants were examined. The subjects were studied at three different times in their development to observe changes: feeding with a nipple one month prior to the introduction of spoon feeding, during the first spoon feeding experience, and one month after spoon feeding was implemented. Identification of respiratory movements was conducted via Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography (Respitrace) and the acoustic swallowing signal was obtained via an amplified stethoscope (Voicette).;Results supported the investigator's hypothesis that infants' patterns would be consistent in the coordination of respiration and swallowing during nipple feeding, resembling the mature adult pattern, but that a period of disruption in breathing patterns would occur when the spoon was first introduced. Once the infants became habituated to spoon feeding, they resumed the mature adult pattern. However, these developmental patterns were demonstrated only with respect to the rib cage. There were no significant patterns demonstrated for the abdomen. The results also demonstrated less synchrony between the rib cage and abdomen during the introduction of spoon feeding than before or after this phase. These results were discussed in light of three developmental theories: the Dynamic Systems Theory, the Maturation Theory, and the Perceptual-Cognitive Theory. |
