What Are Infant Reflexes? Important Signs of Growth

Adaptive responses known as neonatal or primitive reflexes are formed during the neonatal stage and originate as the brain develops from birth to early infant development milestones.

These reflexes are involuntary movement responses in which there is no cerebral participation because they are autonomic and controlled by the brainstem. These given functions in growth and development these reflexes classified have been categorized as normal and abnormal reflexes.

These reflexes signs frequently used by doctors and therapists to examine the central nervous system’s integrity. These primitive reflexes are based on the mode of birth, like (Caesarean v/s vaginal), exposure to toxins, trauma, medication, and anaesthetics.

The other potential reasons for preserved basic reflexes are lack of crawling, early walking, head trauma, persistent ear infections and reduced stomach time during infancy. During assessments and intakes in the occupational therapy field, always look at deceased tummy time and the absence of crawling or weeping. Frequently ask questions to parents about their child’s crawling experience at the earliest stage, time duration of crawling and their first walking steps. For Doctors crawling time/quality can be a useful sign of motor and sensory impairments. In this blog, we’re going to talk about the seven primitive reflexes.

Table for Infant Reflexes with its clinical significance

Primitive Reflex	Purpose	Pediatric growth indicators	When it Appears	Should Integrate by	Signs of Retention
Moro	Instant arousal of survival systems	Automatic reaction to a sudden change in sensory stimuli. Startle response. Primitive fight or flight reaction	birth	2 to 4 months	Hypersensitivity, hyper reactivity, poor impulse control, sensory overload, social and emotional immaturity
Rooting Reflex	To assist baby to find food, breastfeeding	Baby automatically turns head towards touch on their cheek	birth	3 to 4 months	Picky eater, thumb sucking, dribbling, speech, and articulation problems
Palmar Reflex	To assist baby grasp development	Hand closes when object is places in the palm	birth	5 to 6 months	Poor fine motor skills, poor manual dexterity, poor handwriting
ATNR Asymmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex	To assist baby through birth canal and to develop cross pattern developments	Activated by turning the head to the left to right side. As the head is turned, the arm and leg are on the same side will extend while the opposite limb bend.	birth	6 months	Difficulty with eye-hand coordination, handwriting, crossing vertical midline, visual tracking
STNR Symmetrical Tonic Neck Reflex	Preparation of crawling	Arms bend and legs extend when the head is bent down. Arms straighten, leg bend when the head is bent backwards.	6 to 9 months	9 to 11 months	Tendency to slump while sitting, poor muscle tone, W sitting, poor eye-hand coordination, inability to sit still and concentrate
TLR Tonic Labyrinthine Reflex	Head management and postural stability	Forward TLR: Head bend towards forwards causes body and limbs flexion, Backwards TLR: legs bend when the head is bent backwards	In utero	3 ½ years	Poor muscle tone, W sitting, toe-walking, poor balance, motion sickness, spatial orientation issues, gravitational insecurity
Spinal Galant Reflex	Assist baby with birth process, crawling and creeping	Hip rotation when back is touched on either side of the spine	birth	3 to 9 months	Unilateral or bilateral posture issues, fidgeting bedwetting, clothing issues, poor coordination, poor short-term memory

Reflex integration, which is related to reflex disappearance, is anticipated within the allotted period. If the infant reflexes are not integrated beyond 2-3 years it may specify physical and neurological development delays. Reflex integration is expected at the allocated time frame but when an infant is not integrating neonatal reflexes it can be associated with neurological disorders. Retained reflexes can result from many factors such as a difficult birth or a cesarean section delivery since the birth process is a key factor in the integration of these reflexes. Retained primitive reflexes can also occur from trauma, falls during pregnancy, stress, and brain damage in adults who have experienced trauma might result in subsequently reawakening their primitive reflexes.

In conclusion, many neurological conditions show abnormal movement patterns in infants. Primitive reflexes help to understand all developmental stages in infants and identification of abnormal reflective patterns or movement disturbances which can aid in the early diagnosis of neurological conditions. For a more comprehensive view, postgraduate students can enhance their knowledge through exceptional e-learning in pediatric education & online pediatrics course which offer video lectures by renowned experts like Dr. Piyush Gupta.