Hey everyone, it's Sarah with RegistroNurseRN.com and in this video I'm going to demonstrate how to assess newborn reflexes. So let's get started. Newborn reflexes are reflexes that a newborn baby is born with and the reason we care about newborn reflexes is because it tells us how well that nervous system is developing and functioning. These infant reflexes, also called primitive reflexes, will actually disappear over a certain time.
period, which is a good thing because it tells us again that this neuro system is developing like it should. Therefore, for exams, you want to know three things. First, you want to know the names of the main reflexes that you're going to assess in a newborn. Second, you want to know how to get a response out of those reflexes and what an appropriate response should be. And then third, you want to know about the approximate time when these reflexes should disappear.
So now let's look at these reflexes. The first reflexes we're going to look at are the grasp reflexes and this includes the palmer and the plantar grasp reflex. So first the palmer grasp.
Palmer means we're talking about the hand so this reflex deals with something with the hand. So you can get a response out of the infant whenever you place a finger or you stroke the inside of the infant's palm and whenever you do this the hand will close around it. This tends to disappear around about four to six months of age. Then we have the plantar grasp and plantar deals with the foot. So you get a response from the infant with this whenever you place a finger underneath the toes.
And whenever you do this, the toes will actually curl like they're grasping the finger. This disappears around about nine months to one year of age. Next is the moro reflex. And this is also sometimes called the startle reflex. So this is seen when an infant hears a sudden loud noise, they will do this reflex.
Or if they experience an unexpected movement, like if you go to lay them down and you lay them down where they're supine and you're supporting their head and their head's just a little bit lower than their body and you lay them down on a surface, they will do this reflex. So what it looks like is that the infant will throw out their arms, hence extend them, and the palms will be upward. Sometimes they'll move the arms back to the body after doing this and they may even cry. And this reflex tends to disappear around about six months of age. Then we have the rooting reflex.
And this is seen when the infant's cheek or side of mouth is stroked. The head will actually turn towards it and the infant's mouth will open in an attempt to suck. So this reflex is really helpful in helping the baby find their food source when they want to feed. and it tends to disappear around about four months of age.
Next is the sucking reflex, and just like the rooting reflex, the sucking reflex helps the baby feed. It's going to play a role with nutrition. So you will see this whenever something touches the top of the infant's mouth on the inside.
It's specifically that hard palate of the mouth, so the roof of the mouth. The infant will actually automatically just start sucking. It's an involuntary thing that happens.
So again, this helps the infant. with feeding by allowing the infant to pull food from its food source like the breast or a bottle. Now this reflex tends to disappear at about four months and it will actually become a voluntary function.
Then there's the Babinski reflex and this is seen when the bottom of the foot is stroked from the heel upward along the outward part of the foot. So what's going to happen with this you will see the big toe dorsiflex so it's going to bend backwards and the other toes are going to fan out or spread out. And this is what you want to see in an infant.
Now in an adult you do not want to see this response. I actually have a video where I show you what a normal and abnormal Babinski reflex is in an adult and you can check that video out if you're interested. And this tends to disappear this type of response around about one year of age. The next is the crawling reflex also sometimes called Bauer crawling reflex. And how you get a response out of an infant with this is that you place them on their stomach and you apply pressure with your hand to the sole of the foot.
So whenever you do this, the infant will attempt to push against that hand with their foot and move the arms and legs in a crawling-like motion. And this tends to disappear anywhere between a few weeks after birth to a couple months. Next is the step reflex.
And just as the name of this reflex says, this deals with the infant taking steps. So this is seen whenever you hold the infant upright with the legs and the feet touching a surface, the infant will actually move the legs like they're taking steps or walking. And this tends to disappear anywhere between three to four months of age. And lastly, we have the tonic neck reflex.
And this is sometimes referred to as the fencing reflex. And let that name fencing reflex help you because it'll help you understand how this infant will look whenever this reflex is initiated. Because fencing is a type of sport where people fight with swords.
So the response is whenever an infant's head is turned to a particular side, the leg and arm on that side will extend while... the leg and arm on the opposite side will flex similar to how those people look whenever they're fencing and this reflex tends to disappear at about four months of age okay so that wraps up this video over newborn reflexes and be sure to check out the other videos in this pediatric series