Greetings All, 

Upcoming live and recorded webinars on motor skill acquisition for infant feeding may be of interest to clinicians:  

Webinar title:  More Than Reflexes:  Learning, Forgetting, and Relearning Infant Breastfeeding Skills
Subtitle:  Integrating Precepts from Breastfeeding Science and Kinesiology, the Study of Human Movement, Motor Learning, and Motor Control

CERPs available: 3.0 L-CERPs           IBLCE Approval Number:  C1661242

Cost: $35.00

Key terms:  motor learning, motor forgetting, motor control, motor memory, learning constraints, coordination, feedback, expected sensory consequences, learning specificity, specificity of practice, task-switching, switch costs, skill decay, primacy effect, recency effect, proactive interference, retroactive interference, perseverance, performance plateau, transfer of learning, consolidation of memory, automaticity, reaction time, response time, movement time, inhibition of return.

Course description:  
   The presence of the primitive survival reflexes does not guarantee the oral grasp and effective suckling in all babies all the time.  There is a well-known but poorly understood universal phenomenon of infant breastfeeding difficulties that often follow the use of an artificial nipple, and a wealth of data correlates the use of an artificial nipple with shorter duration of exclusive breastfeeding, as well as early cessation of the entire breastfeeding course.  For decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have advised childbearing facilities to avoid the use of pacifiers and artificial nipples in breastfeeding infants, as part of the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.  In order for childbearing facilities to receive the prestigious designation of Baby Friendly Hospital, observation of the Ten Steps is part of the WHO criteria set forth in the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI).  As of this writing, fewer than 20% of all childbearing facilities in the U.S. currently hold the WHO designation of Baby Friendly Hospital.

   Infant breastfeeding difficulties that follow the use of an artificial nipple are often observed as a recency effect, i.e., the primitive survival reflexes are often more heavily weighted toward the more recently learned feeding method, rather than equal weighting of these reflexive feeding movements for all infant milk-feeding methods all the time.  Following the use of an artificial nipple, newly acquired difficulties with latch and/or suckling are often observed, while other infants are able to latch but display a new technique of shallow latching, a technique that is requisite for using an artificial nipple, but one that is correlated with maternal nipple pain and visible nipple damage when the infant feeds at the breast.  These breastfeeding difficulties are particularly prevalent during early learning, prior to the achievement of robust motor memory or consolidation of motor memory for breastfeeding skills.  

      We adults have much in common with our former infant selves, in that learning is most effective when practice is specific to the task.  Motor learning is a complex process, and task-switching between tasks that are similar yet different requires enough rehearsal time to learn how to discern and differentiate which movements are appropriate and inappropriate for correctly performing a specific task.  After learning a similar but different task and subsequently returning to the original task, switch costs are often observed, and these switch costs are measurable in regard to decreased speed of movement as well as decreased accuracy in performing the task.  Task-switching and switch costs have been studied for decades by comparing measurements in reaction time (RT) to stimuli; movement time (MT) for the achievement of a movement or a series of coordinated movements in completing a task or skill; response time; and inhibition of return (IOR), a delay in responding to a previously cued (orienting) stimulus. 

   Across the lifespan, examples abound for switch costs that often follow task-switching.  At approximately six months of age, the older baby begins to learn to drink from a sippee-cup, but weeks to months are required for the achievement of basic skills in sippee-cup drinking.  During early skill acquisition, the baby will not display any ease in switching to a similar but different sippee-cup, and a novel sippee-cup is often refused by infants in favor of an originally learned sippee-cup.  The toddler begins to learn how to use a spoon and a fork, and during early practice sessions, often displays spoon-like movements when using the fork, and fork-like movements when using the spoon.  The professional musician who is preparing for an important performance on the clarinet will not rehearse with an oboe, as there is a world of difference in the oral grasp of the clarinet mouthpiece and the oral grasp of the oboe reed.  The elite athlete will never rehearse for the World Series in baseball by practicing with a softball or a non-regulation sized baseball, and so on. 

   Toward greater understanding of sensory-perceptual-motor learning in the acquisition of infant breastfeeding skills, this dynamic presentation integrates precepts from the fields of breastfeeding science and kinesiology - the study of human movement, motor learning, and motor control.  Utilizing these integrated precepts, clinical interventions are discussed in regard to observable skill decay for infant breastfeeding skills that often follows the use of an artificial nipple.  Research opportunities are also discussed in regard to motor skill acquisition, skill decay, and reacquisition of infant breastfeeding skills, utilizing the parameters of reaction time, movement time, response time, and inhibition of return.   

Speaker bio:  Debra Swank, RN BSN IBCLC is a registered nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) who specializes in maternal-child health care specific to breastfeeding and human lactation.  Ms. Swank began her RN career in 1984 serving infants, children, and young adults with genetic and chronic health concerns.  An IBCLC since 1998, Ms. Swank has provided lactation care in inpatient and outpatient settings in both rural and urban areas, serving well over 15,000 nursing families from many walks of life.  Her current professional focus is the integration of the cognitive sciences toward greater understanding of learning and the primitive survival reflexes, with emphasis on skill acquisition, skill decay, and relearning infant breastfeeding skills. 

To register for August dates, please see:  https://attendee.gototraining.com/rt/7133093055557227777

With best regards,

Debra Swank, RN BSN IBCLC
More Than Reflexes Education
Ocala, Florida USA
http://www.MoreThanReflexes.org/on-learning/
http://www.MoreThanReflexes.org/webinars/
email: [log in to unmask]


 

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