Dear all:

I wish all of you could have listened to Dr. Elad's lecture for the New York Lactation Consultant Association.  Any scientific abstract always synthesizes many observations down to fairly simplistic statements.  

Having been able to watch the whole presentation of the very sophisticated mathematical models that looked at the oscillations during the sucking motion - the math was exceedingly elegant.  

To the best of my memory of that presentation, the thinking that went into the mathematical modeling and measurements of the oscillating motions too into account far more than mere phenomenon of "negative pressure" as engineers talk about and which as Jean calls "other forces pushing" in lay terms,  it also took into account how the compression of soft tissue against hard tissue covered with soft tissues (which is different than mere hard tissue) respond under the influence of "negative pressure" or "other forces pushing".  It also included how the oscillations tend to have a peak frequency when the tongue moves normally and those oscillations break apart into many peaks when restrictions are involved. 

The videos and visual models he presented were both brilliant and as is often the case with really good science - quite beautiful in their simplicity.  He did not merely show us videos in one plane and fortunately used his visual markers to orient us to planes that I have not often (if at all) seen on video.    

I confess that my knowledge of mathematics has deteriorated to the point that I could not follow all the equations that he probably presented in more detail to other audiences of fellow engineers and lightly glossed over for us.

Best regards, 

Susan Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC

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