I suspect that this teacher is depending on research that shows that some newborns will imitate facial expression. That original work was published by Andrew Meltzoff and Tiffany Field. Two of the more commonly imitated expressions were the open mouth and tongue protrusion. Later work (unfortunately I do not have even a name to help find the published work, I encountered it at an SRCD poster session years ago) showed that these two "facial expressions" might be more closely related to feeding than emotional expressions. I don't know if later work linked the processes of imitation and support for breast feeding.
I am familiar enough with some of this research that I would not expect all newborns to imitate these models. Some would estimate that more than half will imitate, but others estimate that less then half of those tested produced the imitations. I hope that helps Dennis Randolph College Lynchburg VA -----Original Message----- From: Philippe Gervaix [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue 5/20/2008 4:12 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] Breast feeding and imitation Hello, my daughter is studying to become a midwife and they had a course on breast feeding yesterday. They were told that when the baby is not feeding well, it may be that he is not opening his mouth enough, so the mothers are advised to "show" him how to by opening their mouth forming a big "O", so the baby, by imitation will open his mouth as well. My question is: I could accept that during breast feeding, the mother's face is at the right distance for the baby to "see" her (10-15 inches), BUT is the scheme of imitation already present 2-3 days after birth? If the phenomenon is verified, is it because the baby imitates, or because while opening her mouth, the mother also changes her posture so that the baby is in a better position to suck properly? Any hints? Phil Gervaix Gymnase de Burier Montreux Switzerland --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
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