Barbara Wilson-Clay has my head spinning on the why of early sucking.  No
question early sucking has some survival "effects" as recorded by some NNS,
SIDS and premie O-sat studies.  At the very least it protrudes the tongue out
of the small immature upper airway space, eventhough not as much as true
suckling.

Since I prefer to center attention on OUTCOMES....if early sucking is helpful
to infants that will NOT suckle, so be it and let it be without worrying
about why they suck.  Energy should be directed at redesigning pacifiers AND
bottle nipples for those that can't or refuse to BF...and/or for those
situations which decrease mortality.  I am deeply convinced by experience
that lengthy sucking promotes severely aberrant tongue patterns, speech
probelms, nasal airway problems, overall breathing disorders, asthma,
malocclusion, forward head postures, etc.

Even so, I still must look at the Sucking LOGIC in this fashion: Every
morning I pass joggers who make me wonder: Are they usually thin because they
run?.....OR....Do they run because they are usually thin?

The September 27, 1999 cover of Newsweek entitled: Where Health Begins, shows
an infant in utero sucking a left thumb. That cover makes me wonder: Do
infants suck to survive?....OR....Do infants survive because they suck? i.e
is Sucking a conscious compensation for respiratory
insufficiency.....OR....Does respiratory suffiency increase in those that
Suck with even minimal forward tongue posture?

Ain't learn'n fun!

Smile-On,
David C. Page, DDS

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