Ever wonder why your child does certain things, as though by instinct? Here are some primitive reflexes your little one has already developed.
It’s a moment captured on countless cameras: You touch your newborn baby’s tiny palm and he grasps onto your fingerwith surprising strength, like he intends to never let you go. Maybe it’s a bit deflating to learn this fierce grasp is just a reflex, but it’s fascinating, too: Your baby is born with as many as 75 reflexes. Some baby reflexes disappear abruptly, usually between three and six months of age, while others are gradually replaced by more intentional behaviour.
Mouthing reflexes
This cluster of reflexes is all about survival. Stroke your baby’s cheek, and she’ll turn toward your touch with an open mouth. This rooting reflex helps her find and latch onto a nipple. Brie Hoffman, who lives in Burnaby, BC, is mom to six-month-old Laura. “When Laura was a newborn,” Hoffman says, “sometimes I’d put her face up to my cheek when she was rooting, and it felt like she was kissing me.” Infants will also suck when the soft palate or mouth are stimulated. The gag reflex helps prevent choking: If something touches the back of her throat, her jaw drops and her tongue thrusts forward to push it out.
Moro reflex
Ever seen a baby monkey clinging to its mother? It’s easy to see a remnant of that behaviour in the Moro reflex. If your baby is laid on his back too abruptly, feels his head is unsupported or is startled by a loud noise, he’ll throw his arms and legs forward as if grabbing on for dear life. This baby reflex still has some use, says psychologist Penelope Leach in Your Baby & Child: It tells you he’d like to be moved more gently.
Stepping reflex
Alyson Shaw, a paediatric consultant at Ottawa’s Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, describes this puzzling (but cute) baby reflex: “If you hold the baby upright with her feet touching a firm surface, she will lift her feet one after the other as if walking.” Shaw says there is no known biological explanation for this particular reflex. “Laura is doing a lot of this stepping now,” says Hoffman. “If you hold her in standing position when she’s upset, she looks like she’s stomping her foot.”
Righting reflexes
Placed face down, your baby will turn his head to the side, ensuring he can breathe. And while on his back, if a blanket falls over his head, he will twist his head and flail his arms to push it away from his face—a potential lifesaver.
Galant reflex
Shaw describes this lesser-known reflex: “Hold the baby belly down, lying on your forearm and hand. If you gently stroke along one side of her spine, she will arch her body toward that side.”
Baby reflexes are checked in an exam soon after birth, and at subsequent well-baby visits, to rule out neurological problems. “We confirm these reflexes are symmetrical, and that they extinguish at the proper time,” Shaw says.
This story was originally published in 2012.
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Introduction[edit | edit source]
The rooting reflex is an innate response of the head due to the stimulation of the face, mouth, or cheek by touching/stroking (the head is turned towards the side of the stimulus).[1] It is a brainstem mediated primitive motor reflex also called the frontal release reflex.
This reflex has also been observed in the apes and other mammals.[1]
The presence of the Rooting reflex has also been linked to altriciality-meaning that the newborns are unable to feed themselves (unable to source for food) with the help of locomotion. Therefore in response, the caregiver feeds the young one taking the reflex as a cue.[2]
Stimulus[edit | edit source]
The reflex commences when the corner of an infant’s mouth is stimulated by touching/stroking. [3]
Response[edit | edit source]
The newborn will turn their head towards the stimulus(finger or nipple) and open the mouth wide with tongue thrusting (tongue sits too forward in the mouth).[3]
Duration[edit | edit source]
The rooting reflex is present at birth (around 28 weeks of gestation) and disintegrates about 4 to 6 months (until the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex matures.)[3]
[4]
The healthcare provider strokes the corner of the mouth of the baby and the infant turns their head towards the stimulated side. For eg., if the right side of the corner of the mouth is stimulated then the baby turns its head to the right side.
Difference between Sucking and Rooting Reflex[edit | edit source]
- It's critical to differentiate between the rooting reflex and the sucking reflex, as the latter is also involved in the nourishment intake of the infant. [5]
- The major difference in both reflexes is that the rooting reflex occurs when the corner of a baby’s mouth is stimulated, while the sucking reflex initiates when the roof of their mouth is stimulated.[5]
- The sucking reflex is usually observed around 30 to 35 weeks and is in charge of the regulation of breathing with the swallowing mechanism, which starts to emerge around 37 weeks[5]
Clinical Significance[edit | edit source]
- The reflex is impertinent for the survival and growth of the babies, as it helps the newborn find the origin of food (either nipple or bottle) and also initiates breastfeeding.[6]
- If the rooting reflex is preserved beyond the disintegration time, the infant may have excessive salivation and a tongue that sits too forward in the mouth(tongue thrusting). The child will struggle to perform swallowing and chewing functions because of the dysfunctional tongue. Other clinical symptoms include hypotonic or hypertonic muscle tone, asymmetric posture and gait, and delayed developmental milestones.[7] [8][9]
- The trigeminal cranial nerve , which helps in the sensation of the face, is also involved in the functioning of the rooting reflex. An infant with an intact trigeminal nerve will have a normal response but if the infant has nerve dysfunction, there is no response observed.[3]
- Rooting reflexes are observed in adult patients with frontal lobe pathology. They often present with other primitive reflexes that are normally disintegrated due to maturation of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. [3]
- It's also considered a sign of hunger in babies.[6]
- If the infant is forced-fed during crying then the rooting reflex might get disturbed.[10]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kreutzer J. In F.-A.-S. Test, Kreutzer JS, DeLuca J, Caplan B. eds. Encyclopedia of clinical neuropsychology. New York, NY ; Heidelberg : Springer, 2011.
- ↑ Dunsworth HM, Warrener AG, Deacon T, Ellison PT, Pontzer H. Metabolic hypothesis for human altriciality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2012 Sep 18;109(38):15212-6.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Yoo H, Mihaila DM. Rooting Reflex. InStatPearls [Internet] 2021 May 1. StatPearls Publishing.
- ↑ betapicts. Baby Rooting Reflex / Reaction. Available from //www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0CLcNtOOEQ&t=9s
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sohn M, Ahn Y, Lee S. Assessment of primitive reflexes in high-risk newborns. Journal of clinical medicine research. 2011 Dec;3(6):285.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Glodowski KR, Thompson RH, Martel L. The rooting reflex as an infant feeding cue. Journal of applied behavior analysis. 2019 Feb;52(1):17-27.
- ↑ Agarwal A, Verma I. Cerebral palsy in children: An overview. Journal of clinical orthopaedics and trauma. 2012 Dec 1;3(2):77-81.
- ↑ Panteliadis CP, Hagel C, Karch D, Heinemann K. Cerebral palsy: a lifelong challenge asks for early intervention. The open neurology journal. 2015;9:45.
- ↑ Chinello A, Di Gangi V, Valenza E. Persistent primary reflexes affect motor acts: Potential implications for autism spectrum disorder. Research in developmental disabilities. 2018 Dec 1;83:287-95.
- ↑ Widström AM, Thingström‐Paulsson J. The position of the tongue during rooting reflexes elicited in newborn infants before the first suckle. Acta paediatrica. 1993 Mar;82(3):281-3.