Recording and Analysis of Sucking Behavior in Bottle Feeding Infants by Ultrasonography

Comparison between normal in fants and cleft lip and palate infants

Abstract

In order to elucidate the mechanism of sucking behavior of normal infants and to examine the effects of Hotz's resin plate on the improvement in sucking behavior of cleft lip and palate (CLP) infants, we have developed an ultrasonographic system to record the echo images of the sucking behavior and then to analyze the images with computer graphics. This system is useful because the dynamic sucking behavior can be observed under normal bottle feeding conditions. The subjects examined consisted of 10 CLP and 2 normal infants. In the sucking behavior of normal infants, two type of waves, large or small, were clearly seen. The large waves represent the overall movement of the tongue and the small ones indicate partial movements, which propagate independently of the large waves. In CLP infants without the resin plate, the tongue action was small toward the upper lip, alveolar ridge, and palate. When the resin plate was set, the sucking behavior was improved and became rhythmical, continuous, and long in stroke like that of normal infants.