Level of Arousal in Breast-fed and Bottle-fed Human Newborns

Breast-fed human newborns were found at higher levels of arousal than those who were bottle-fed, when assessed immediately after an anthropometric examination which preceded the usual feeding by approximately ½ hr. This finding was consistent with a previous report on slightly older newborns. One of several possible explanations offered is that breast-fed infants are more hungry because of late onset and low volume of the mothers' flow of milk. Since level of arousal is likely to affect many physiological and behavioral measures, data on the composition of the sample and a separate analysis with respect to type of feeding should be provided in reports of studies on newborns.