Breastfeeding is related to atypical autonomic and behavior regulation in infants with a history of excessive crying

Keri J Heilman; Danielle M Zageris; Danielle Keir; Stephanie A Aylward; Tiffany Burkhardt; Linda Gilkerson; Zack Boukydis; Larry Gray; Stephen W Porges

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.03.012

Breastfeeding is related to atypical autonomic and behavior regulation in infants with a history of excessive crying

Int J Psychophysiol. 2022 Jun:176:119-128. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.03.012. Epub 2022 Mar 30.

Authors

Keri J Heilman¹, Danielle M Zageris², Danielle Keir³, Stephanie A Aylward⁴, Tiffany Burkhardt⁵, Linda Gilkerson⁶, Zack Boukydis⁷, Larry Gray⁸, Stephen W Porges⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: keri_heilman@med.unc.edu.
² University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: Danielle.zageris@spectrumhealth.org.
³ University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: Danielle-keir@northwestern.edu.
⁴ University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: Stephanie.Aylward@choc.org.
⁵ Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: tburkhardt@chapinhall.org.
⁶ Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: LGilkerson@Erikson.edu.
⁷ College of Psychology, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA.
⁸ Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: larrygray@northwestern.edu.
⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA. Electronic address: stephen_porges@med.unc.edu.

PMID: 35367252
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.03.012

Abstract

The study investigated autonomic regulation during feeding in six-month old infants with a history of excessive crying (EC) and social-behavioral development at 12 and 24 months. When contrasted with non-EC infants (NEC), EC infants had atypical autonomic responses observed as dampened reductions in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and decreases in heart period (HP) during feeding. EC infants demonstrated atypical autonomic regulation only if they were bottle-fed, while breastfed EC infants had patterns of autonomic regulation similar to NEC infants. Behavioral data suggest that while a history of EC was related to social-emotional behaviors at 12 and 24 months, breastfeeding may buffer the behavioral effects of EC on sociability at 24 months.

Keywords: Excessive crying; Feeding; Heart rate; Heart rate variability; Infants; Polyvagal theory; Respiratory sinus arrhythmia.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Autonomic Nervous System / physiology
Breast Feeding*
Crying / physiology
Emotions
Female
Humans
Infant
Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia* / physiology

Grants and funding

R01 HD053570/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States