The effect of oral-gustatory, tactile-bucal, and tactile-manual stimulation on the behavior of the hands in newborns.

The effect of stimulation (oral-gustatory with sucrose, tactile-bucal, and tactile-manual) on the frequency of hand contact with the oral (hand-mouth and hand sucking) and perioral (hands near the mouth) regions was compared in 24 full-term newborns. The 16-minute evaluation was divided into four equal periods, without intervals: (A) Baseline, no stimulation applied; (B) tactile-bucal, the newborn was allowed to suck the distal phalange of the researcher's little finger; (C) tactile-manual, the newborn was allowed to grasp the researcher's index finger; (D) 0.3 ml sucrose solution was administered orally to the newborns. After every three newborns were tested, the sequence of stimulation application was changed. The frequencies of the hand behaviors were calculated. It was observed that the sucrose significantly increased the frequency of hand sucking (p<0.05). Sucrose was, therefore, the most effective stimulus for eliciting the behavior of hand sucking.