Newborn Reflexes You Need to Know About (for better sleep and more!)

0:00 - When we see our newborn's bottom lip start to quiver, most parents assume that it means that their baby is cold. But you might be surprised to learn that this actually isn't the case. The bottom lip quivering is one of the many reflexes that our newborns are born with. As a parent of a newborn, it's important to know what these reflexes are, because not only will it explain some of the unusual behaviors you'll see your newborn doing, it will also help to make parenting easier because we can use these reflexes to our advantage.

0:27 So in this video I'm going to cover the must know newborn reflexes. But before we get into it, make sure you click on that free PDF document in the description box below which covers the developmental milestones. You can be expecting for your little one in their first year of life. This will give you an invaluable piece of mind as you'll know when to be expecting skills and when to be concerned. Also, if you wanna make parenting significantly easier and make sure you start now by subscribing to my teller where you'll learn the tips and tricks I've learned over the last 10 years, practicing as a pediatric occupational therapist and being a mom to two children.

0:59 All newborns have a set of reflexes. So reflexes are an involuntary movement or action that occurs in response to a nerve stimulation. Some movements are spontaneous and occur as a result of your baby's activities where others are in response to certain actions. Common reflexes you're going to see in your newborn is firstly, that bottom quivering lip. So in adults and children quivering lip is often associated with being cold or in response to an emotion. But for newborns, that is actually a reflex that happens when there's a sudden noise or movement or there's a change in body posture.

1:35 So it's really common to see this reflex when you are dressing your little one. Given that the quivering bottom lip is a reflex we don't use that to see if a newborn is cold. If you wanna check your baby's temperature you can quickly do that by putting your hand in the nape of their neck and seeing if it's sweaty or if they're too hot or if it's cold to touch, or you can just use a thermometer which is the better option.

1:58 The next reflex is the sucking reflex. So this is a reflex that starts to develop in the womb and it starts at 32 weeks gestation and is fully developed at the time 36 weeks gestation. What it is, is when the roof of your baby's mouth is touched your baby will automatically start to suck. So this reflexes helps your baby feed. This reflex tends to fade anywhere from six to 12 months of age. What you will notice though, is because of this reflex your baby enjoys sucking on items.

2:30 And they suck on items not because they are hungry but because it is also calming. So this is a reflex that we can use to our advantage. So when your baby is distressed, you can place their hand in their mouth and they will automatically start to suck it and that will help calm them down. If you don't wanna do that, you can also use dummies because that activates that sucking reflex, which again, helps to calm little ones.

2:54 You also have the rooting reflex. So you can stimulate a baby's rooting reflex by touching the corner of their mouth and stroking upwards direction towards their cheek. What you will notice is your baby will turn their head in the direction that they were stroked and they will open their mouth and their tongue will come out. So this is the reflex that we use to encourage a baby to laterally well for bottle or breastfeeding. Often parents have told me that they've being told by well-meaning adults that, the way you can check whether a newborn is hungry is whether or not they turn to the side when you touch them on the cheek.

3:30 Now, we know that that is actually stimulating the baby's rooting reflex. So your baby is always going to turn to the side when you touch them on the side of the cheek and appear hungry. There are early, mid and late hunger cues which you can start to pick up on and if you want more information on that, then check out the video above. The rooting reflex tends to last till about four months of age and after that point in time your baby then has voluntary control to turn their head and to latch onto the breast or the bottle.

4:00 You will also see the Moro reflex in your newborn. So this reflex is often called the startle reflex because it occurs as a result of your baby being startled by loud sounds or movement. What you will see when your baby has this startle reflex is their head automatically falls backwards, their arms and legs go out. They will scream or cry and then they'll bring their arms and legs back in. Now, this reflex often makes it extremely difficult to settle newborns or to keep them asleep.

4:31 And that is because they often startle through their sleep and wake themselves up. Or if you've been lucky enough to get your baby to fall asleep in your arms and then you're trying to transfer them from your arms into the cot that movement alone will activate a startle reflex. And your baby is at risk of waking up. So what we wanna do is ensure our newborn stay asleep and don't wake up when we transitioned them. And to do that, you need to dampen that startle reflex.

4:57 So how you do that is by swaddling them. And that's either by using a wrap or sleeping bags that swaddle and keep the baby's arms in. What that's going to do is if they are startled when you go from your arms into the cot they're not gonna be able to fling their arms out to the side and wake themselves up. And during sleep, if they startled at any point by loud noises, again those arms aren't gonna go out and those legs aren't gonna go out and wake themselves up.

5:26 The other thing you can do is try and dampen any kind of loud certain noises. And you would do that by using a white noise machine. So the white noise machine will ensure that all background noises don't actually startle your little one and wake them up from their sleep. The good news is this startle reflex often disappears at around three to four months of age which is perfect timing, 'cause this is generally the age that we start to transition our little ones out of a swaddle and into a sleeping bag where their arms are out in preparation for them starting to learn to roll over.

6:00 Your newborn will also have a grasp reflex. So this occurs when an object such as your finger or a toy touches the palm of your baby's hand what you will notice is that their fingers start to close automatically and they will hold onto that toy or your finger. Your baby has no voluntary control of that. So at some point they're just going to accidentally let go and whatever they're holding will fall out of their hand. So this reflex tends to stay till about five to six months of age which is when they tend to get voluntary control over grasping and holding onto toys.

6:33 Now, although it's really cute when your newborn starts to hold your finger it's not so cute when they start to accidentally grab their hair or your hair or jewelry. So if they do accidentally grab your hair or your jewelry, how you can make them release what they're holding is by simply bending their wrist, and that will automatically open their hand. So whatever it is that's in their hand will fall out. Now, it's also really important to remember because they have no voluntary control over that grasp and they will accidentally just open their hand and whatever it is will fall out.

7:05 You need to be aware that when you place toys in their hand not to make them too heavy. So those light fluffy material toys are ideal at this age because they're not gonna hurt when they accidentally fall out of your baby's hand. You'll also see the tonic neck reflex. So this occurs when your baby's head falls to one side. What you will notice is that their arm on that side will automatically straighten, and then the other arm will bend at the elbow.

7:31 So it looks a bit like a fencing pose. It's often called the fencing position. So this free flex tends to go away anywhere from five to seven months of age. What's great about this reflex is we can use it to make dressing newborns significantly easier. So what you will notice is dressing newborns is really difficult because their arms tend to be really flexed, but we can use that tonic neck reflex to help put your baby's arms through the sleeve.

7:57 So if you wanna put your baby's right arm through a sleeve what you could do is you could turn their head towards the right side and you'll notice that that right arm automatically straightens. And then it's easier to put that sleeve on. And lastly, you have the stepping reflex. Now, this is a reflex that I haven't used to my advantage when I'm parenting a newborn but it's a pretty cool reflex. So what it is is when you are holding your baby in upright position and their feet are on a flat surface you will see your little one take one step forward and then another step and it will appear as if they're walking or dancing.

8:30 So this reflex tends to be present at birth and fade by two months of age. So those are the must know newborn reflexes which now that you know, will make parenting easier because you will start to use them to your advantage. Now, if you want information on baby cues which will also make parenting easier then check out this video. And if you want information on newborn sleep and seven tips to make it so much easier 'cause it is so hard check out this video.

8:59 Hopefully, I'll see you next week where I'll share more parenting tips and tricks.