You have your newborn child in your arms and you think “poor thing, he doesn't know how to do anything. He just wouldn't survive ”and in part you're very right. The babies by themselves they would not survive longThat's why they need us as May water, but that they don't know how to do anything is not entirely true.
Babies are born with a series of reflexes that help them find and secure food, avoid dangers, ...
You can try the reflexes yourself with your baby. It is a way to be with him for a little while, to see what he knows how to do and to start a smile with his abilities. Let's see what are the best known reflexes:
- Turn reflex: is the one that helps the baby find the breast (or bottle). You can try it by stroking his cheek a little. The baby will turn its head towards your finger.
- Suction reflex: This would come after the previous one. Once he manages to cling to his chest he begins to suck. You can give him the little finger to suck. This I would not try, because they already want to deceive you ... you can see him suck perfectly while eating food, which will make him more funny.
- Moro reflex: helps you achieve balance or issue a help request signal. To see it, the baby is given the sensation of falling, for example, by sitting on a surface, holding his back with our arm and releasing it for a moment to "fall" backwards. The baby will open the arms abruptly (as in the picture).
- Grip reflex: occurs when we caress the palm of the hand or the sole of the baby's foot. The baby will grab the finger with the hand and with the foot will flex the fingers towards the stimulus. It serves them to take objects with their hands and look for things. On the feet it is an evolutionary residue of the days when we walked on all fours (come on, when we were apes). Newborns have such a strong grip that they could be hung on a bar. Just in case, you better not try it (first to prevent it from falling and second to avoid being jealous that your baby does have the strength to hold on to a bar and you ... ahem ...)
- Gait reflex: It is achieved by taking the baby with both arms by putting it straight with the feet resting on a smooth surface. The baby will lift one leg and then the other, as if walking. It could be a precursor movement of the march.
To these we must add the reflections of cough, sneeze, flickering, climbing and some more ...
Many of them disappear over time (months) or evolve into a conscious act.
