Reflex / Reaction from a Baby 2½ weeks

1. Reverberatory

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• In supine position (lying on their back) the arms of healthy babys are partly or totally flexed

• When both forearms are extended and then suddenly released, they reverberate (spring) immediately to their original, flexed position.
  

• The reaction is shown twice, then once in slow motion.
  

2a. Rooting

• A newborn infant turns the head in the direction where the cheek (near the corner of the mouth) is brushed.
  

• This reaction serves to help a newborn find food.

• The reaction disappears at about the sixth week of life.
  

• About this time, newborn eyes focus steadily, so a food source can be seen.

2b. Rooting

• A second -- pre-war -- demonstration of the rooting reaction.

3a. Head lifting

• This baby (2½ weeks old) will lift his head when placed on his stomach.
  

• Five days after birth 50 % of the neonates can lift their head by bending their back for at least 2 sec.
  

• Absence of this reaction might reveal brain damage.

3b. Supporting / Arms

• About 3 to 4 months after birth in supine position on a horizontal surface, a baby will extend his arms indicating readiness to support him/herself.

• Fragment of my video: Baby Crawling 2 (of 2) - 4:20 min.

4. Plantar / foot

• Grasping with the feet.

• Are humans descendants of the apes?

5. Babinski

• When a newborn's foot is stroked on the outside of the sole, the baby will flex the big toe upward while the other toes fan out.

• The reflex is caused by a lack of myelination in the corticospinal tract in young children.

6a. Palmar

• When an object is placed in the hands of young babys and strokes their palm, they will often firmly grasp it.
  

6b. Palmar

• Babys are able to support their own body weight by hanging freely with just grasping by both hands (Baby 2½ weeks old)

• (See also note with vid 1. Reverberatory reaction)

6c. Palmar

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• Fragment of: Johnny and Jimmy (age: 1 month), film by Myrtle McGraw, recorded in 1932.

• (See also note with vid 1. Reverberatory reaction)

7. Babkin

• The infant's mouth opens when the palms of both hands are pressed.

8a. Stepping / walking

• Holding baby upright (of course infants so young can not support their own weight) with feet touching a solid surface and moving him forward elicits stepping movements.

• So, already a newborn baby 'knows' how to walk (0-4 months).

8b. Stepping

• Note the remarkable coordination of the walking pattern (2½ weeks old).

9. Withdrawal

10. Moro

• In response to loss of balance (the infant's head suddenly shifts position), the baby arches his back, flings his arms outwards, extends his legs, and opens his hands, after which he slowly returns to a flexed position, often resembling an embrace.

• The infant cries loudly (0-3 months).

11. Magnet

• If light pressure with e.g. the thumb is applied to the sole of the foot of a newborn lying in a supine position, the baby pushes back against the pressure.

• And when the parent withdraws his thumb, he has the sensation that his thumb is drawing the limb out as by a magnet.

• (See also note with vid 1. Reverberatory reaction)

12. Calm a crying baby

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• No rockabye music, white noise, frightening, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, or crying with the baby etc. but rock'n MOVEMENTS!"

• There are good reasons why infants and children seek to be carried on the body of their mothers and fathers and love to be rocked to sleep" (and to stop crying) http://www.violence.de/tv/rockabye.html

13. Swimming

• Salamander-like swimming movements are elicited when Johnny (11 days old!) is exposed to water. Fragment of: Johnny and Jimmy, film by Myrtle McGraw, recorded in 1932.

• Swimming salamander: Auke Jan IJspeert (USC), Neuromechanical simulations of salamander locomotion: http://www-clmc.usc.edu/~ijspeert/sal...

14. Diving

• Diving reflex: under water a newborn baby stops breathing for a couple of seconds, the top of the lungs is sealed off, some water may enter the stomach.

15. Footplacing

• The foot placing reaction is elicited by touching the shinbone and the dorsal side of the foot against a hard surface such as the edge of a table.

• The newborn makes a quick lifting motion, as if to step onto the table (3-6 months).

17. Sucking

• When the newborn's lips touch the mother's breast or a bottle, the baby sucks and so takes in food.

• This reaction consists of two components: a negative pressure in the cavity of the mouth followed by expression (inwardly licking).

• Baby sucking is characterized by a more or less regular pattern: sudden sucking outbursts interupted by rests.

• By around 4 months, the baby should have developed sufficient control in the oral region to be able to control the lips and go into voluntary as opposed to reflexive suck.

19. Landau

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• With the examiner's hand supporting the trunk - face down, this boy (8-months-old) raises his head, arch his back and extends his arms and legs and thus showing muscle tone.

• When the head is gently pushed into flexion, the legs drop into flexion like a clasp-nife.

• The reaction is elicitable from the 3rd to 9th month.

Bemerkung:

• Hintergrundmusik bzw. -geräusche sind teilweise sehr unpassend !

• Säuglinge sind sehr flexibel, haben bei den Versuchen keine Schmerzen (s. Säuglingsstation, Windeln wechseln)
  

• Allerdings wirken manche Videoclips irgendwie ein wenig befremdlich, als seien sie ohne Liebe und Empathie gedreht worden (=pietätslos) !
  

• Ansonsten eine sehr interessante Auflistung !