Case Scenario No.

Newborn Reflexes and Developmental Milestones

Baby Belle at 7 months is a lot more active than in months past and will require a lot of hands-on care. She is

Questions:

1. What is a primitive reflex?

Primitive reflexes are involuntary motor responses originating in the brainstem present after birth in early child
development that facilitate survival. Several reflexes are important in the assessment of newborns and young infants.
These central nervous system motor responses are eventually inhibited by 4 to 6 months of age as the brain matures
and replaces them with voluntary motor activities but may return with the presence of neurological disease.

2. What are the primitive reflexes?

Rooting reflex
This reflex starts when the corner of the baby's mouth is stroked or touched. The baby will turn their head and open
their mouth to follow and root in the direction of the stroking. This reflex lasts about 4 months.
Suck reflex
Rooting helps the baby get ready to suck. When the roof of the baby's mouth is touched, the baby will start to suck.
Because babies also have a hand-to-mouth reflex that goes with rooting and sucking, they may suck on their fingers or
hands.
Moro reflex
The Moro reflex is often called a startle reflex. That’s because it usually occurs when a baby is startled by a loud
sound or movement. In response to the sound, the baby throws back their head, extends out their arms and legs, cries,
then pulls the arms and legs back in.
Tonic neck reflex
When a baby's head is turned to one side, the arm on that side stretches out and the opposite arm bends up at the
elbow. This is often called the fencing position.

Grasp reflex
Stroking the palm of a baby's hand causes the baby to close their fingers in a grasp. The grasp reflex lasts until the
baby is about 5 to 6 months old.
Stepping reflex
This reflex is also called the walking or dance reflex because a baby appears to take steps or dance when held upright
with their feet touching a solid surface.

3. Why do primitive reflexes disappear? Explain briefly.

Primitive reflexes are reflex actions originating in the central nervous system that are exhibited by normal infants, but
not neurologically intact adults, in response to particular stimuli. These reflexes are suppressed by the development of
the frontal lobes as a child transition normally into child development.

4. What is a parachute reflex?

The parachute reflex is also known as Landau is an important postural reflex and should develop by 4 to 5
months of age. When the infant is suspended by the examiner’s hand in the prone position, the head will extend above
the plane of the trunk. The trunk is straight and the legs are extended so the baby is opposing gravity. When the
examiner pushes the head into flexion, the legs drop into flexion. When the head is released, the head and legs will
return to the extended position. The development of postural reflexes is essential for independent sitting and walking.
This reflex occurs in slightly older infants when the child is held upright and the baby's body is rotated
quickly to face forward (as in falling). The baby will extend his arms forward as if to break a fall, even though this
reflex appears long before the baby walks.

5. What are the 5 reflexes that persist throughout life?

This is the list of newborn reflexes that remains throughout
life:
*Blinking reflex: blinking the eyes when they are touched or when a sudden bright light appears
*Cough reflex: coughing when the airway is stimulated
*Gag reflex: gagging when the throat or back of the mouth is stimulated
*Sneeze reflex: sneezing when the nasal passages are irritated
*Yawn reflex: yawning when the body needs more oxygen.

6. What is a developmental milestone?

Developmental milestones are physical or behavioral signs of development of infants and children. Rolling over,
crawling, walking and talking are considered developmental milestones and provide important information regarding
your child's early development.

Milestones are different for each age range. These milestones are behaviors that emerge over time, forming the
building blocks for growth and continued learning. Some of the categories of behavior include:
▶️Cognition: Thinking, reasoning, problem-solving, understanding
▶️Motor coordination: Gross/fine motor skills, jumping, hopping, throwing/catching, drawing, stacking
▶️Social interaction: Initiating peer contact, group play
▶️Adaptive: Dressing, eating, washing

7. Why is it important to know the different developmental milestones?

Knowing the importance of Developmental Milestone will not only make you knowledgeable regarding in what stage
your child has started to grow, develop and change. It could give you a clear set of skills to keep an eye on, so you
know where your child stands. They also help you know what to expect next, so you can support your child's needs.
Being aware will give you an idea that you have nothing to worry about and everything is just normal especially when
your child is healthy and well.

8. What is play and why is it important?

Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive, and
emotional strength. Play is important to healthy brain development. It is through play that children at a very early age
engage and interact in the world around them. Young children learn how things fit together through play. It allows
them to use their senses and encourages exploration and curiosity, and these skills are the foundation of intellectual
development and cognitive processing. Play also inspires children to pretend, create, and imagine.

9. Why is talking and communicating to an infant important?

It’s known that once a baby is born, they’re consistently developing and eager to soak up new information. That’s why
it’s important that you learn to nurture their mind as much as you care for them physically. Talking is one of those
ways you can help their little brains grow. babies are learning the sounds in the language being used. They also learn
the rhythm and flow of language. Eventually, babies will start to babble and practice sounds.Besides learning
language, spending time with babies can make them feel secure and loved. Talking with infants helps their brains
develop and can help children do better at school when they’re older. Communicating with your baby is the first
example of social interaction that they’ll have. Without hearing and seeing those around them talk, Infant can miss out
on crucial brain, social, and language development.

10. Is baby Belle’s developmental milestone within normal? What does it indicate if it is not within
normal?
Baby Belle’s developmental milestone is normal because she was able to develop her skills as months pass by.
If all aspects of development are delayed, the most probable reason is that the child is mentally retarded.
Conditions that may also cause general retardation of development:
Prematurity- If a baby has been born a month prematurely, he cannot be expected, at the age of three months, to do the
things that a full-term baby of three months should do. This factor of prematurity becomes of less importance as the
child grows older.
Severe illness.-A baby who has been severely ill with, for instance an intestinal obstruction, may be too weak to sit at
the expected age and too unhappy to smile or vocalize. He may, therefore, appear to be mentally retarded, but as he
recovers it will be found that not only does he improve physically, but also developmentally. In time he will catch up
with other children of the same chronological age.
The deprived child.-However well a baby is looked after physically, if he is deprived of the love of his mother, he is
liable to become retarded in development. The baby is particularly vulnerable between the ages of seven
months and five years, and at this age should never be taken away from his mother if it can be
avoided. The deprived child looks very like a mentally retarded child, in fact, it may not be possible
to distinguish between them. The best way to make the diagnosis is to send the baby home to his
mother and watch the remarkable transformation which takes place in the next few weeks. The baby
who previously lay apathetically in his cot is now sitting up and playing. Very often he is feeding
better, too, and for this reason has put on weight.
Isolated Developmental Delay -Sometimes a child's development is delayed in one aspect only, for
instance, speech. If there are no other abnormal features a child may not start to speak until two or
three years of age and yet be quite normal. Isolated delay in motor development, however, is more likely to
indicate some abnormality. For instance, a child might present with lateness in sitting. If other fields of
development were normal this could be due to a local lesion such as a congenital dislocation of the
hip or a paraplegia.
Mutiple Handicaps - The greatest difficulty with developmental diagnosis arises with multiple
handicaps. Probably the commonest example of this is the combination of cerebral palsy and mental
retardation. In the past this led to many mis-diagnoses: in particular, severely athetoid children were
thought to be mentally retarded when in fact their intelligence was normal, It is important in these cases
that all fields of development should be considered and undue emphasis must not be placed on gross
motor development. Children with athetosis do not usually show the characteristic movements until after
the age of one year. Before this they may show hypotonia which causes retardation of motor
development. Other fields of development — speech, vision and social — should be normal, thus
showing that the child is not mentally retarded.