Koepke J E, Barnes P
Child Dev. 1982 Aug;53(4):978-83.
In order to find out how much sucking human newborns evidence when a sucking object is readily available, pacifiers were given to 10 newborns in response to the spontaneous occurrence of empty sucking, rooting, and mouthing and were left in their mouths until the babies relinquished them. The spontaneous occurrence of these behaviors and of finger sucking was also observed in a control group of 10 babies. Both groups were observed continually during the 2 hours before a feeding and the first hour afterward, starting before the very first feeding and continuing at regular 24-hour intervals for 4 days. The amount of time spent sucking a pacifier or finger(s) was recorded for both groups. The results indicated that the newborns spent about half an hour per hour sucking a pacifier starting on the very first day of life, and that this did not vary with feeding experience. They also indicated that some newborns in the control group sucked their fingers, 1 for considerable periods of time. The results suggest that human newborns, like other newborn mammals, program considerable sucking time for themselves regardless of whether or not milk is forthcoming.
为了弄清楚当有吸吮对象时，人类新生儿会表现出多少吸吮行为，研究人员针对10名新生儿在出现空吸吮、觅食和口部动作时给予安抚奶嘴，并将奶嘴留在他们口中，直到婴儿不再使用。同时，在一个由10名婴儿组成的对照组中，也观察了这些行为以及手指吸吮行为的自发出现情况。在每次喂食前的2小时和喂食后的第1小时内持续观察两组婴儿，从第一次喂食前开始，以24小时的固定间隔持续观察4天。记录两组婴儿吸吮安抚奶嘴或手指的时间。结果表明，新生儿从出生第一天起，每小时大约花费半小时吸吮安抚奶嘴，且这一情况并不因喂养经历而有所不同。结果还表明，对照组中的一些新生儿会吸吮手指，其中一名新生儿吸吮手指的时间相当长。研究结果表明，人类新生儿与其他新生哺乳动物一样，无论是否有乳汁供应，都会为自己安排相当多的吸吮时间。
