New-born babies are born with many different reflexes. ‘The presence of some of the new-borns primitive reflexes is essential to survival’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 12. Some of the automatic reflexes include ‘swallowing and sucking, when anything is put in the mouth, babies at once suck and swallow’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 12. At birth in their gross motor development babies will lie on their back ‘lie supine (on their backs), with the head to one side’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 8. In their fine motor development babies will hold their hands closed, ‘Usually hold their hands tightly closed, but the hands may open spontaneously during feeding or when the back of the hand is stroked’ and tuck their thumbs under their fingers, ‘often hold their thumbs tucked in under their fingers’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 8. Babies’ communication and language development, they need to share language experiences and talk to others, ‘need to share language experiences and co-operate with others’, also make eye contact and cry when they need help, ‘make eye contact and cry to indicate need’, babies also move their limbs when they hear high pitched tones, ‘respond to high-pitched tones by moving their limbs’, babies may also move their eyes towards the sound, ‘may move their eyes towards the direction of sound’, Child Development An Illustrated Guide, Page 15.
At three months babies gross motor development, may be able to keep their head in a central position when lying on their back, ‘keep their head in a central position when lying supine’ and have almost no head lag when moving into the sitting position, ‘have almost no head lag in moving into the sitting position’, Child Development An illustrated Guide, Page 28. In their fine motor development, three month old babies may be able to watch their hands and play with their fingers, ‘Move their hands and play