Your newborn’s reflexes at a glance

The reflexes

Nevertheless, your baby is born with highly developed motor skills and perfectly formed muscles. No wonder, because kicking, kicking and boxing were trained well before birth. In addition, newborns bring many reflexes into the world. These ensure their survival and ensure that your baby is active and mobile from the start. Reflexes are involuntary reactions evoked by internal or external stimuli. The reflexes allow your baby to manage the transition from the womb to the new environment. Some reflexes disappear over time, others are later replaced by coordinated movements, and others even persist, such as yawning. Just like adults, babies can absorb a large amount of oxygen through yawning. Breathing, coughing and sneezing also remain for life. You can read here which reflexes only a newborn has and what they are used for.

grasp reflex

If you touch your baby’s palm, it will grip firmly. Touching the little soles of the feet causes a similar reaction of the toes. Your baby needs support and needs to hold on because he is not yet able to stand up and move around on his own. This typical gripping reflex disappears from the second month of life.

search reflex

For example, if the child wants to be breastfed, it forms its mouth or licks its lips. It “seeks” the breast. So you can literally see when your baby wants to be breastfed. The search reflex passes after about the third month of life and is then mainly replaced by screaming and crying.

sucking reflex

The sucking reflex “forces” your baby to suck vigorously on anything that comes near his mouth. This reflex guarantees your child that they will not miss any possible food source. After around the sixth month of life, the sucking reflex recedes.

standing reflex

This reflex is a stiffening of the legs when your baby is placed upright on a pad, for example. The muscles tense and guarantee your baby to keep his balance. This reflex passes after about the fourth month.

creep reflex

This reflex is the precursor to crawling. Your baby is trying to move using whatever skills it has up to that point. From the second or third month, this reflex is replaced by the first beginnings of crawling.

step reflex

If you hold your baby upright so that it feels firm ground under its feet, it will “march” away. This stepping reflex is not a preparatory exercise for running, but a thrusting movement: the unborn child pushed itself off in the stomach as soon as it felt the wall of the uterus. Even the smallest movement not only trains your baby’s muscles and skeleton, but also the conduction of stimuli within the nervous system.

Moro reflex

When your baby is startled, it stretches its arms out wide. This can be caused by a loud noise or a jolt, for example. When it relaxes again, the little arms are brought back to the body and the hands are clenched into fists. This reflex begins to wear off by the third month and should be gone by the time the child is about six months old.

The reflexes your baby has are very important for its development. Movements can develop through these reflexes. Your baby uses all of the motor skills at their disposal to communicate and grow with them.

How will the development of the musculoskeletal system continue?

Would you like to know which further development steps in terms of mobility you and your baby can expect in the next few months? In our further articles you will find a lot of interesting information about age-appropriate development. Just click in.

• 1st-3rd Month: From reflexes to controlled movement
• 4th-6th Month: Your baby learns new movements
• 7th-9th Month: Your baby is becoming mobile
• 10-12 Month: Your baby is learning to crawl and walk

You will also find helpful background information and valuable tips in our “Learning to Crawl and Walk” section , which you can use to support your baby on its way to taking its first steps. If you want to know how your newborn’s development is in other areas, the following articles are sure to be of interest to you:

• Nutrition: The first breastfeeding meals
• Communication: This is how your baby makes contact
• Sleep: Your baby wakes up frequently
• Senses: Your baby can do that
• Growth: why babies lose weight after birth