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