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Dysphagia
Published in: Dysphagia 1/2007

01-01-2007

The First Year of Human Life: Coordinating Respiration and Nutritive Swallowing

Authors: Bronwen N. Kelly, MSLT, Maggie-Lee Huckabee, PhD, Richard D. Jones, PhD, Christopher M. A. Frampton, PhD

Published in: Dysphagia | Issue 1/2007

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Abstract

This study provides the first documented report of the maturation of breathing-swallowing coordination during feeding in ten healthy term human infants through the first year of life. A total of 15,073 swallows were obtained across ten assessments between 48 h and 12 months of age. Midexpiratory swallows represented the dominant pattern of breathing-swallowing coordination within the first 48 h (mean = 45.4%), but the prevalence of this pattern declined rapidly in the first week to 29.1% (p = 0.012). Inspiratory-expiratory swallows increased with age (p < 0.001), particularly between 9 (37.0%) and 12 months (50.4%). Between 72.6% and 75.0% of swallows were followed by expiration in the latter 6 months, which is an adult-like characteristic. These data suggest that while postswallow expiration is a robust feature of breathing-swallowing coordination from birth, two major shifts in the precise patterns occur: the first after 1 week of postnatal feeding experience and the second between 6 and 12 months, most likely due to neural and anatomical maturation.
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Metadata
Title
The First Year of Human Life: Coordinating Respiration and Nutritive Swallowing
Authors
Bronwen N. Kelly, MSLT
Maggie-Lee Huckabee, PhD
Richard D. Jones, PhD
Christopher M. A. Frampton, PhD
Publication date
01-01-2007
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Dysphagia / Issue 1/2007
Print ISSN: 0179-051X
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0460
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00455-006-9038-3

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