Reflexes

My newborn baby makes walking movements if I hold her up and let her feet touch a surface. Is she even cleverer than I thought?

Just as you can’t help believing that your newborn baby has smiled at you, the reflexes that a newborn has can be misleading. Designed to help babies cope with tricky situations, these amazing reflexes do not last more than a few months. So this walking reflex which has you so fascinated will not predict your baby’s ability to walk later on, and will have disappeared after about 2 months. The rooting reflex, which is obviously extremely useful, means that if the baby’s cheek is stroked then baby will turn towards the stimulus with the mouth, thus facilitating feeding. Feet and hands also turn towards stimulus, and those little hands can grasp an object strongly enough to support their own weight. The Moro reflex, seen when baby is startled, is the throwing back of the limbs with arched back and then clenching the hands onto the chest. Watch your doctor at the next check-up up and you will see that he uses the baby’s reflexes as one of his assessment tools. Aren’t babies amazing?