Investigates the effect of a recorded male human voice on neonate head, eye, mouth and crying behaviors. Vocal Stimulation enhanced head movement, eye opening, mouthing and crying and influenced hand sucking. Differences between breast fed and bottle fed babies were found for mouth orientation, hand sucking and crying. (RH)

A collection of activities specifically designed to stimulate babies during the first six months of life. (CM)

Findings confirmed that newborns turn toward laterally presented sounds, habituate with repetition, recover to novel sounds, and extend demonstrations of recovery to discrepant stimuli. Recovery was found to be a curvilinear function of degree of discrepancy. Newborns systematically turned away from redundant stimuli. (RH)

Examined the sex differences in physiological and behavioral stress reactivity among 36 healthy, full-term neonates after a mildly stressful behavioral assessment procedure. Salivary cortisol, heart rate change, Neonatal Behavior Assessment Scale (NBAS) cluster scores, and behavioral states after the NBAS provided 100% discrimination between male…

Examined psychological and social impact of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) on 80 grandmothers and grandfathers. Results of quantitative and qualitative analyses suggest that SIDS for most grandparents is a devastating experience. Common feelings expressed included disbelief, anger, guilt, anxiety, depression, concern for their bereaved adult…

Examines the importance of canonical syllables in early speech perception as well as production. A study, using the discrimination learning method, tested 20 infants (mean age 51 hours) and 20 controls for their ability to discriminate between members of syllable pairs that were either canonical or noncanonical. Differences in reactions are…

Evaluated 108 mothers and their newborn babies for bacterial colonization and neonatal septicemia (NNS) after membranes had ruptured for 24 hours or more. Nearly 40% of the babies were already colonized at birth. The three most common bacteria isolated from the babies were Escherichia coli, Group B Streptococcus, and Streptococcus faecalis. (MDM)

Three experiments tested whether four-day-old infants can discriminate multisyllabic utterances on the basis of the number of syllables or the number of phonemes. The results provided no evidence that infants were sensitive to a change in number of phonemic constituents. (MDM)

Describes the effect of crack on the user and on the pregnant user's offspring. Children of the first crack addicts are now in school and exhibit an array of behavioral and cognitive difficulties. Early intervention in a supportive environment has succeeded in preparing some of these children for the classroom. (DM)

Studied head position preference in 20 newborns differing by Cesarean or vaginal delivery and sex. Found that neither factor accounted for differences. The head turned right more often and was maintained longer in this position during quiet wakefulness, regardless of scoring method. When using global scoring, duration of midline position was…

The functional maturity of the newborn infant's brain, the resemblances between neonatal imitation and imitation in adults and the possibly lateralized neonatal imitation suggest that the mirror neuron system may contribute to neonatal imitation. Newborn infants not only imitate but also initiate previously imitated gestures, and are able to…

This article reports the behavior of 3 newborn chimpanzees in the first 4 months of life, reared by their mothers and living in a community of 14 chimpanzees in a semi-natural enriched environment. We focused on spontaneous activity during the night partly because sleeping behavior constitutes an essential part of the infants' activity.…

This information fact sheet on screening newborns to prevent mental retardation defines newborn screening and outlines how screening is performed. It discusses the six most common disorders resulting in mental retardation for which states most commonly screen. These include phenylketonuria, congenital hypothyroidism, galactosemia, maple syrup…

Presents a description of a neonatal monitoring system and the studies used in its validation. (SDH)

The basic concept emphasized in this book is that a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach within a regionalized system of perinatal care is a constant factor improving the quality of pregancy outcomes. This coordinated multidisciplinary approach has had an impact on perinatal care in three important areas: (1) improved and expanded understanding…