Even before visiting a pediatrician or a neurologist, it is useful for parents to know which reflexes in the newborn are normal. Of course, an experienced doctor can check them out best. But still, it does not hurt to understand how the nervous system of the child works. Some actions that seem strange and even frightening to an adult are actually a sign of the norm.
In addition, reflexes of newborns can not only be detected. They can still be stimulated, and this has a beneficial effect on the development of the nervous system. It is simply amazing what delayed effects the stimulation of physiological reflexes of a newborn can sometimes carry. Of course, you do not need to immediately aim to grow out of a child of a child prodigy, ahead of peers on all fronts. Such overwhelming parental ambitions will psychologically put pressure on the baby, and instead of the long-awaited successes, you can get a neurosis or stutter. But raising a child healthy is a worthy task. Interestingly, not all newborn reflexes go away in the first year of life. Some stay with us for life. Here is a short list.
Swallowing reflex
An adult, just like a baby, does not hesitate to swallow food. In a newborn, this happens when milk enters the mouth, and in us, when food is chewed enough and has reached a semi-liquid state. Some people get used to eating hastily and chewing food badly, but the reflex still works.
Corneal reflex
Otherwise, it is called "protective", and for good reason. This reflex is necessary to protect the eye. As soon as anything touches the cornea, the eyelids quickly close. If not for this reflex, dust and fluffs would constantly fall into our eyes, we would accidentally grab onto the surface of the eye with our hands, which could not but affect our eyesight.
Tendon reflex
This reflex does not seem as functional as the rest, but it also persists for life. The traditional picture, already overgrown with jokes, is a neuropathologist striking the patient with a hammer under the knee. What's happening? Muscle contraction.
Reflex classification
In general, the reflexes of newborns serve to adapt to the environment and are divided into such groups:
- Reflexes that ensure the functioning of vital systems and organs - this includes the sucking and swallowing reflexes, reflexes of food and vestibular concentration.
- Protective reflexes - for example, unconditioned reflexes of the newborn, which protect the eyes from touch and bright light. In this case, the baby squints.
- Indicative reflexes - turning the head to the light source, the search reflex.
- Atavistic reflexes - they fade over time. They remind us of the previous links in evolution - the baby hangs, clinging like a monkey, swims like a fish.
In general, most of the unconditioned reflexes that exist at birth fade away even before the year. This is due to brain maturation. The unconditioned reflexes of the newborn are controlled by the deep and ancient structures of the brain, primarily the midbrain. Even in the womb, he matures faster than other structures, so that after birth he begins to work actively. But after birth, the cerebral cortex rapidly develops and takes over the subcortical formations. Based on her work, conditioned reflexes of newborns are formed and gradually displace unconditioned reflexes, many of which have become unnecessary. And now it is worth listing them separately.
Sucking reflex
The baby was just born, barely had time to recover from the efforts that he, like his mother, showed during childbirth. He is in a completely new world in which he knows nothing. But as soon as it is applied to the chest, it begins to suck. How does he know what to do, and when did he learn to suck? And nature knows for him, because it is an unconditioned reflex. The sucking reflex in newborns is one of the most necessary because it provides nutrition. Therefore, he is so loved by pediatricians and neurologists.
How is it checked? You can’t give the baby every time at the doctor’s appointment or hold a bottle of milk? Checking the reflex is very simple. When touching the lips or immersing the finger 1-2 cm into the mouth, the baby begins to suck it rhythmically. The reflex is valid for up to a year, so all doctors recommend, if possible, to continue breastfeeding for up to a year.
Kussmaul's search reflex
If you stroke the corner of your mouth, the baby will turn the head toward stroking and lower his lip. It is necessary to put pressure on the baby’s upper lip - it immediately raises both the lip and the head, and if the lower one - the head bends down, and the lower lip drops. In general, the child seems to follow the head and lips behind the finger. This reflex lasts up to 3-4 months. It is important that it is symmetrical. Indeed, the asymmetry of this reflex happens when the facial nerve is damaged! The search reflex forms the basis of many elements of facial expressions, such as nodding your head, smile. And when feeding, you can notice that the baby does not immediately take the nipple, but shakes his head a little, as if trying on him.
Proboscis reflex
To check it, you need to sharply touch the nasolabial folds. The child immediately pulls out his lips with a tube and turns his head, as if trying to find a nipple. This reflex also serves to nourish the baby. It fades away by 3-4 months. The delay in its extinction may indicate CNS pathology.
Palmar-oral reflex (Babkin's reflex)
Pressure on the surface of the palm causes the opening of the mouth and bending of the head. Normally present in all newborns and is especially noticeable before feeding. The absence of a reflex in a newborn or its lethargy is a warning sign, because it may indicate damage to the nervous system. Most pronounced in the first 2 months, by the third begins to fade. If the child is older, and the reflex persists, this indicates damage to the central nervous system. In this case, the reflex can be amplified, and it becomes enough light touch on the palm.
Breath hold reflex
Otherwise, it is called the duck reflex. Helps the baby to be born without drowning in the amniotic fluid. May help in swimming training. True, respiratory arrest lasts only 5-6 seconds. With proper training, you can bring it to half a minute. But it is better to be careful and consult a specialist who can teach your child to swim. Holding your breath for longer than expected is harmful and dangerous.
Swimming reflex
When a child is immersed in water, he begins to move his arms and legs more actively. Such movements in babies are also in a dream, but in water they intensify and become more frequent. Thanks to them, the child can hold out on the water for some time. But these movements are completely uncoordinated. If you stimulate the swimming reflex, children grow more healthy and calm, and still enjoy the water. In the future, such people at any age will learn to swim easier. Although the movements with any swimming style are completely different from the floundering of an infant and are complex and coordinated. By the way, swimming can be taught already from 2.5-3 years. And then this will not be a manifestation of an unconditioned reflex, but a motor skill.
Grasping reflex
If you hold your finger on the baby’s palm or put your finger on the little finger in his fist, the child will clench his fist tightly. Immediately, the tone of the whole arm rises - the shoulder, forearm, hand, besides the skeletal muscles of the whole body. If you lift a child, it can even hang, holding on to the index fingers of an adult. Small handles support the weight of the whole body!
The same can be observed if you hand the child a toy, and then try to take it away. He clings to her tightly. "My!" - as if the reflex speaks. In fact, it serves as an attachment to the mother. There is a grasping reflex in newborns. He is especially strong in the first two months of life, in the third he begins to weaken, and by 6 months he leaves. But such a picture is observed if it is not developed.
If some reflexes become a bad sign after 2-3 months and all doctors and parents hope for their early disappearance, then stimulation of this reflex helps to accelerate the development of the child. And yet after 4-5 months he should disappear. If it exists longer, this indicates damage to the nervous system. One of the best sports facilities for babies was invented, oddly enough, not by a doctor, but by an engineer. His name was Vladimir Skripalev. It all started with the fact that he created a sports complex for his own children. So, he just relied on a grasping reflex.
Plantar reflex (Babinsky reflex)
Our body remembers the monkey past when the legs were like arms. Therefore, there is a semblance of a grasping reflex on the legs. This is a Babinsky reflex. In response to stroke irritation of the sole, the foot bends and the fingers diverge. The thumb is usually straightened, and the rest are bent. As well as with a grasping reflex, the tone of the legs as a whole rises, they bend at the knees.
Crawl Reflex (Bauer Reflex)
If you put the crumbs on your stomach and bring a palm to his legs, he will push forward towards them, as if crawling. This reflex is useful to stimulate - it will strengthen the muscles of the body and helps the baby to confidently hold the head in the 2-3rd week. It fades away by 3-4 months. This reflex is absent or it is characterized by weakness in children who have experienced asphyxiation at birth, trauma to the brain or spinal cord. With damage to the nervous system, the reflex does not disappear for a long time, from six months to a year.
Stop reflex
To cause this reflex in a newborn child, it is necessary to press the baby to the chest and slightly clap a palm on its soles. The child stretches and strains all the muscles. Stimulation of this reflex helps to develop muscle and even serves as a prevention of posture disorders. Such an exercise can also be carried out after feeding, in order to free the baby’s stomach from air that has fallen during sucking. In the people it is called "to keep a column".
Heel reflex (Arshavsky reflex)
Pressing the calcaneus causes extension of the whole body. This is followed by a grimace and scream. Such a reflex is observed only in physiologically mature children.
Step reflex
You need to hold the child above the table or any other horizontal surface so that he can touch her with one foot. When the leg rests on the table, it immediately tightens, and the other extends. So the baby is fingering, as if walking. Without stimulation, the reflex fades to 2-3 months. It is useful to stimulate it, because it diversifies the development of the child. Such children not only learn to walk earlier, but also have an early development of speech, and in the future they can boast of musical ear and ability to languages. Amazing connection, right? But this is how an unpredictable baby brain works.
However, these “magical” actions can only be performed with children without orthopedic deviations. For any problems with the legs - clubfoot, hip dysplasia - causing a step reflex and stop reflex is harmful and dangerous.
Fright Reflex (Moro Reflex)
Moro's reflex in newborns is triggered in response to a frightening situation. Therefore, there are several safe but effective ways to test it. It is necessary to take the child in his arms and sharply lower it by 20 cm, then also raise it sharply. The infant lying on its back must straighten its legs sharply. You need to hit your hand on the table near the head of the child. In all these cases, the baby is frightened, and then the Moro’s reflex is triggered in the newborn. The kid usually leans back, throws the handles to the sides and unclenches his fists, and then abruptly returns. This happens within a second.
Reflex Galant
When a child is held with a finger along the back along the spine, it bends in an arc. The foot from the side of the stimulus can also be unbent. Reflex does not occur immediately after birth, but in 5-6 days of life.
Correct Reflexes or Protective Reflexes
If many of the reflexes seem to us incomprehensible, mysterious and even unnecessary, then this set of reflexes is simply necessary for the survival of the baby. For example, what will happen if you put the baby on its tummy face down? He will slightly raise his head (as far as he knows how) and turn it sideways. So he saves himself from suffocation. If the baby lies on his back, and put a diaper on his face, he will also not lie in the same position and breathe through the fabric. The baby will grab the diaper with his mouth, begin to twist his head, swing his arms and eventually throw the diaper off his face. With damage to the nervous system, the reflex is absent.
What does it mean? If you put such a baby face down, he may suffocate if you do not turn his head in time. With cerebral palsy, the picture is different. If the tone of the extensors is increased, then the child does not just raise his head, but bends strongly back.
Gag reflex
The kid pushes out of his mouth all the solid objects that fall there. The reflex will last a lifetime, but the language takes part in it only the first six months. By the way, this is one of the reasons why complementary foods for breastfeeding begin not earlier. After all, the child will react with this reflex to a spoon and food and push everything out of his mouth.
Swordsman Reflex
It is named so in the appearance of the pose that the infant takes. The kid lies on the back, his head is turned to the side. He puts his arm and leg in the same direction. To some of the doctors, this pose resembled the fencer's pose before the attack. Reflex plays a dual role - on the one hand, it stimulates development, and on the other, it slows down. After all, this reflex helps the baby look at his pen and focus on the toy squeezed in it. However, he does not allow the child to keep the toy in front of him. He succeeds already in 3-4 months, when the reflex disappears.
Jerking reflex
Of course, intentionally no one will hurt the baby. But sometimes you have to, for example, take a blood test. He is taken from the heel. At this point, the baby will pull the leg, and the other will try to push the adult away.