Greetings All,

This is from neurophysiologist Mark Hallett M.D., who is a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Human Motor Control Section at the National Institutes of Health in the U.S.:  

"Immediately after learning, the motor memory is fragile.  In particular, it is vulnerable to disruption by learning of something similar.  However, if there is no disruption, with the passage of time, the memory becomes more robust.  It is this process, of becoming more and more robust with time, that is designated consolidation."  This statement is very much in keeping with Step 9 in the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding.  

From Dr. Hallett's bio on the National Institutes of Health website: 
"Dr. Hallett obtained his A.B. and M.D. at Harvard University, had his internship in Medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and his Neurology training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He had fellowships in neurophysiology at the NIH and in the Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry in London, where he worked with C. David Marsden. Before coming to NIH in 1984, Dr. Hallett was the Chief of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and worked his way up to Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He is currently Chief of the Medical Neurology Branch and Chief of its Human Motor Control Section. He is now President of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. He has been President of the Movement Disorder Society and Vice-President of the American Academy of Neurology. Among many awards, in 2012 he became an Honorary Member of the American Neurological Association, and in 2014 won the Lifetime Achievement Award of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine. His research activities focus on the physiology of human voluntary movement and its pathophysiology in disordered voluntary movement and involuntary movement."

In addition to motor memory, other forms of memory are similarly vulnerable to disruption during early memory formation.  For example, remembering a new phone number or computer password that has only been used once is difficult to remember, but with the repetition of use or practice, memory for the new phone number or computer password gradually becomes more robust.   

With best regards,

Debra Swank, RN BSN IBCLC
Ocala, Florida USA
More Than Reflexes Education
http://www.MoreThanReflexes.org

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