Informal Reflexive Essay
NEONATAL PRIMITIVE REFLEXES
INTRODUCTION
Normal, full-term newborns are capable of responding to the external stimuli such as visual, olfactory, auditory, oral, and tactile stimuli. They even can signal their needs likes crying when they are hungry, wet, or bored but they have limited ability to respond to their caregivers. They exhibit the generalized movements which seems disorganized, purposeless and meaningless to caregivers. However, the newborn’s generalized reflexive movements are eventually replaced by cortically mediated voluntary actions in old infants and children. In addition, these neonatal primitive reflexes can be elicited by appropriate peripheral stimuli and should be disintegrated and replaced by reactions which allow children
to maintain their postural stability when respond to different sensory inputs. Primitive reflexes are brainstem mediated, involuntary and spontaneous motor responses that are elicited by appropriate peripheral stimuli. These reflexes are essential and responsible for a neonates’ survival immediately after birth such as swallowing, sucking, hiccuping, urinating, and defecating. They are presented at birth and should only remain active for the first few months of life. They are slowly absent due to the development of the frontal lobes as a child transitions normally into child development. Suppression of primitive reflexes is related to the appearance of normal motor development in old infants. Subsequently, postural reactions appear between 2-9 months which help to maintain the body orientation in space and the interrelationship of body parts to each other. Combined primitive reflexes and postural reactions can be used to monitor the course of normal development and identify any abnormal development of newborn. Persistent or retained primitive reflexes indicate brain damage and can leads to failure of development of postural reactions due to traumatic birth experience or birth by C-section. Other causes maybe insufficient tummy periods as an infant, lack of or little creeping or crawling, early walkers, chronic ear infection, head trauma and vertebral subluxation. Retained primitive reflexes can contributes to a variety of issues such as coordination, balance, sensory perceptions, fine motor skills, sleep, immunity, energy levels, impulse control, concentration and all levels of social, emotional, and intellectual learning.
INTRODUCTION
Normal, full-term newborns are capable of responding to the external stimuli such as visual, olfactory, auditory, oral, and tactile stimuli. They even can signal their needs likes crying when they are hungry, wet, or bored but they have limited ability to respond to their caregivers. They exhibit the generalized movements which seems disorganized, purposeless and meaningless to caregivers. However, the newborn’s generalized reflexive movements are eventually replaced by cortically mediated voluntary actions in old infants and children. In addition, these neonatal primitive reflexes can be elicited by appropriate peripheral stimuli and should be disintegrated and replaced by reactions which allow children
to maintain their postural stability when respond to different sensory inputs. Primitive reflexes are brainstem mediated, involuntary and spontaneous motor responses that are elicited by appropriate peripheral stimuli. These reflexes are essential and responsible for a neonates’ survival immediately after birth such as swallowing, sucking, hiccuping, urinating, and defecating. They are presented at birth and should only remain active for the first few months of life. They are slowly absent due to the development of the frontal lobes as a child transitions normally into child development. Suppression of primitive reflexes is related to the appearance of normal motor development in old infants. Subsequently, postural reactions appear between 2-9 months which help to maintain the body orientation in space and the interrelationship of body parts to each other. Combined primitive reflexes and postural reactions can be used to monitor the course of normal development and identify any abnormal development of newborn. Persistent or retained primitive reflexes indicate brain damage and can leads to failure of development of postural reactions due to traumatic birth experience or birth by C-section. Other causes maybe insufficient tummy periods as an infant, lack of or little creeping or crawling, early walkers, chronic ear infection, head trauma and vertebral subluxation. Retained primitive reflexes can contributes to a variety of issues such as coordination, balance, sensory perceptions, fine motor skills, sleep, immunity, energy levels, impulse control, concentration and all levels of social, emotional, and intellectual learning.