The vital activity of the body of each person, including the newborn, is determined by reflexes.
Newborn reflexes are a response to stimuli from the internal and external environment of the body. Congenital reflexes are embedded in the nervous system even before the birth of a child.
Detailed article on major reflexes of newborns
Sucking reflex in a newborn - This is the ability to suckle a mother’s breast or pacifier on a bottle of artificial nutrition, inserted into the mouth. No one teaches a child to suck. This is not a habit, but one of the important reflexes. It is formed in the prenatal development process. And in the future it affects the formation of the psyche in early childhood. With the help of a sucking reflex, the newborn satisfies his hunger.
It occurs for the first time hours of life and refers to innate reflexes, which ensures the survival of the baby. This is the very first and most important unconditioned reflex. During feeding, when there is a touch of the sky, the baby begins to suck milk from the mother’s chest or from the bottle, sucks it. The severity of the sucking reflex in newborns determines the child is hungry or full. After eating, the sucking reflex weakens. But an hour later, again makes itself felt. Rhythmic sucking calms the baby very well.
Responsible for the sucking reflex are 5 pairs of cranial nerves. It is a pleasure for a baby to suck a dummy and it is very hard work to suck milk from mother’s breast.
By 12 months the sucking reflex weakens, and by 3-4 years it disappears.
Checking the baby’s sucking reflex is very easy: you need to stroke your cheek or touch your lips. The child opens his mouth and pushes his tongue as if he wants to suck.
Weak sucking reflex
The weakness or absence of a sucking reflex is determined by feeding. Healthy children immediately and vigorously take their mothers breasts and suck avidly. Unlike healthy babies, newborns with a reduced sucking reflex fall asleep during feeding, sluggish, swallow very rarely, and often completely abandon their breasts. Weakened and premature babies are discharged from the hospital when the baby can independently suck.
Here are the reasons why a weak sucking reflex is most often and it is very simple to check - you need to put a finger in the baby’s mouth, in the absence of deviations, it instinctively sucks a finger.
The main reasons for reducing the sucking reflex:
- severe somatic conditions;
- hypoxia during pregnancy or childbirth;
- paresis of the facial nerves;
- mental retardation;
- sometimes stomatitis, acute respiratory infections, SARS.
In those cases when the baby does not get a weak sucking reflex and does not get proper nutrition, it is necessary to express the milk and feed the baby from a bottle or spoon. It is necessary to feed the child every two to two and a half hours, and possibly more often.It is categorically impossible to independently diagnose and treat a baby. As soon as you notice any deviation, you should contact your doctor for help. Such states must be observed in dynamics.
Also, the cause of a weak sucking reflex may be the irregular shape of the nipples, or the child does not actively and intermittently sucks a cold, with a stuffy nose, or a sleepy baby.
Lack of reflex
If there is no sucking reflex, then this is the first sign that the central nervous system, namely the brain stem, is damaged, which is a bad neurological sign. With the complete absence of this reflex in newborns, there is no chance of survival. Feeding of such babies occurs through a probe.
Difficulty sucking, and lack of sucking reflex is a consequence of birth trauma. To say that “the child is too lazy to suck” is inappropriate. Indeed, in this case, it is not laziness, but the possible damage to important centers of the nervous system.
The reason for the lack of a sucking reflex is a neurological pathology:
- weakness of the chewing muscles;
- circular muscle of the mouth;
- language.
Injury to the neck or cervico-occipital zone leads to damage to the medulla oblongata and, as a result, to a decrease in the sucking reflex. Such injuries slow down the development of the child.
The presence of reflexes indicates the health of the child, the state of his nervous system. During their formation, a more harmonious baby development.
We also read: 15 abilities (reflexes) of the newborn, helping him to survive and develop
