A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect

Summary

Here, we present a nonhuman primate model of mother-infant intervention for breastfeeding disorders in the presence of paternal inhibition and maternal neglect. The mate model video complements education to support primate and human caregivers with respect to infants with breastfeeding problems such as pain.

Abstract

Parents' psychological stress during the perinatal and neonatal periods continues to increase in an environment of declining birthrates, aging populations, and shrinking family sizes. The increase in child abuse and neglect cases, most likely by inexperienced and insufficiently knowledgeable parents, necessitates education on childcare and intervention techniques in nursing and midwifery training. In particular, attachment formation early in life between mother and infant is crucial. To accurately teach sensitive and comprehensive information on intervention techniques for mother-child attachment formation, realistic videos, and educational materials are necessary. Although pseudoeducational materials are available, they might be limited in explaining complex realism, particularly to support breastfeeding that involves both parents and child and that encourages interaction between the two.

In a previous study in a common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) model, we experimentally controlled infant feeding and nurturing through 24 h of constant sensing and collected 1 month of quantitative data on psychological indices that possibly translated to psychological development. Age-dependent dynamic visualization of these data by multivariate analyses inferred causal relationships between early parental feeding and psychobiological rhythm formation. In the same primate model, we identified a spontaneous case of breastfeeding failure in which the father inhibited his neonatal infant's feeding and the mother appeared to abandon nurturing, leading to clinically significant weight loss in the infant.

Thus, we explored intervention techniques to promote mother-infant interaction. The mother was trained to allow the infant to spontaneously explore her breast. Initially, the mother refused to display the feeding pose potentially due to pain associated with breast engorgement. Massage was used to soften the breast and feeding was reintroduced. We hypothesize that activation of instinctive attachment formation mechanisms by encouraging spontaneity in each parent and child is the key to successful feeding intervention.

Introduction

The perinatal and neonatal periods are often stressful for parents. This is a particular problem in countries like Japan, where direct exposure to child rearing is limited given the countries' low birthrate, aging population, and tendency to live in nuclear families. This situation is exacerbated by a lack of institutionally supported education regarding child rearing¹. Against the background of this limited experience and the social problems associated with poverty, for instance, in younger couples, there is a high risk of postnatal growth failure related to breastfeeding issues in the presence of stress-related abuse and neglect by parent....

Protocol

This study protocol was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Saitama Medical University (2476).

1. Animals

1. House a pair of parents with their first-time infants of common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) who have no experience raising any infants in a light-sealed incubated cage, maintaining constant temperature (25-30 °C), and a 12 h light/dark cycle). Set light intensity per cage at 750-930 lx during the light period and 0 lx during the .......

Discussion

Parental care of infants in diverse species requires mutual physiological and psychological considerations^{7,9,10,12,13,14,18,19,20,21,22,}

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
			Specification
Common Marmoset			Self Breeding
			Mother 5 year-old Number: 1
			Father 5 year-old Number: 1
			infant 0-13 day-old Number: 1
Formula Milk			Lebens Haihai, Wakodo Number: 1
			distilled water
Plastic glove			powder-free
Syringe			1 mL Number: 1
Video Cemera			Sony Handycam Number: 1
			iPhone camera Number: 1
Weight Scale			0.1 g increment Number: 1