Reflexes
Reflexes are involuntary responses. Newborns have a number of unique reflexes. Some are important for survival, while others are not well-understood. Most newborn reflexes go away or change as baby gets older. Your baby’ s health care provider will evaluate your baby’ s reflexes during an exam.
Rooting Moro( Startle)
Rooting helps a newborn with feeding. If
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something touches your newborn’ s cheek close to the lips, they will turn toward it and
Something that startles a newborn( like a loud open their mouth. They will also turn their noise or sudden movement) will cause them head side to side in search of the nipple for to throw their arms out with hands open, then feeding. Newborns often root and put their draw them back in to the body. hands in their mouth.
Other Reflexes Sucking
Newborns have many additional reflexes. As you interact with your baby, you may notice some of these:
The sucking reflex is strong in newborns, and it goes hand in hand with rooting. Baby will latch and begin sucking when something touches the roof of their mouth.
For the first few months, when you see baby’ s rooting and sucking reflexes, it often means your baby is hungry.
• When you place your finger in baby’ s hand, they will grip it tightly. Never lift a newborn baby using only this grip, since they will let go without warning.
• Their toes will curl or fan with different touches on their feet.
• When held upright with their feet touching a surface, they make walking or stepping movements.
• They push their tongue out when something touches their lips( tongue thrust). This helps with latching while preventing choking.
Newborns also have reflexes that remain into adulthood, such as gagging, swallowing, sneezing, yawning and coughing.
Newborn Appearance and Abilities 17