Baby Reflexes: Brilliant Things Your Newborn Can Do Automatically
Baby Reflexes: Crying, Moro Reflex, Sneezing, Rooting and More!
Imagine trying to teach your baby how to suck or poop. Thankfully, you don’t have to because babies are born with about 70 newborn reflexes tucked away in their jam-packed brains. Like blinking or coughing, infant reflexes are automatic behaviors that don’t have to be learned or practiced. Many baby reflexes are so important that they’re present from day one of life…and before!
You’ll have fun catching your baby showing off some of these amazing tricks. Here are several different infant reflexes to watch for.
Baby Reflexes List
Some baby reflexes to expect include:
- Crying reflex
- Sneezing reflex
- Rooting reflex
- Sucking and swallowing reflex
- Stepping reflex
- Calming reflex
- Grasping reflex
- Moro reflex
1. Newborn Crying Reflex
Crying is the “mother” of all baby safety reflexes! Triggered by any sudden distress, it’s perfectly tuned to launch your nervous system and get your heart—and feet—racing to help.
2. Baby Sneezing Reflex
We often think of sneezes as a sign of a cold, but with babies they are usually just little noses trying to eject bits of dust and mucus.
3. Rooting Reflex
What is rooting reflex?
Rooting reflex is a natural reflex displayed by your baby when they automatically turn their face towards stimulus and make sucking motions when the lips or mouth are touched.
Touch your baby’s cheek near the lips (or right on the lips) and their mouth will turn toward the touch, open and then shut. Rooting helps your baby locate, receive and grasp your nipple…even in the dark. Don’t worry if you stroke their cheek and your baby doesn’t respond. Rooting is a smart reflex: It’s only there when an infant is hungry. If you touch their cheek and nothing happens, they're probably not needing a meal yet. (Learn more about the rooting reflex.)
4. Sucking and Swallowing Reflex
Do you have ultrasound photos of your little cutie sucking their thumb before birth? After your baby roots and latches onto the nipple, sucking and swallowing get flipped on to send milk down the stomach.
5. Stepping Reflex in Babies
Hold your baby under the armpits (slightly leaning forward) and let the soles of their feet touch the floor. A few times out of ten, you’ll see one leg straighten and the other bend. (Try leaning your baby a little to one side, so one foot has more pressure under it than the other.) During the last months of pregnancy, it may have allowed your little one to move around and prevent pressure sores.
6. Calming Reflex
While the calming reflex soothes upset infants, it probably evolved to calm fussy fetuses! (If fetuses wiggle around too much they can move into breech position and get stuck as they start coming down the birth canal.) How brilliant of Mother Nature to make the natural sensations of the womb put babies into a mini-trance for the last two months of pregnancy to keep them from moving into risky positions. The 5 S’s (swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing, swinging and sucking) and SNOO (a bed that uses the S's to boost sleep) both turn on the calming reflex.
7. Baby Grasping Reflex
Press your finger into your baby’s palm or sole of their foot, and they'll usually grab on with their fingers or, toes. This may seem like a trivial little parlor trick, but it’s actually critically important…for baby apes. Newborn chimps have been able to cling to their mom’s fur while she’s scurrying through the jungle. (Be careful: Your baby’s iron grip can yank off your glasses or a handful of “fur” off Daddy’s chest!)
When do babies start grabbing things?
At birth grabbing is a normal reflex, but by 3 months your baby will be actively trying to grab anything in their vicinity.
8. Moro Reflex
What is the Moro reflex?
This is the famous “I’m falling” reflex or startle reflex. It flips on when a baby gets startled (by a jolt, loud noise or their head suddenly falling back). The Moro reflex causes your baby’s arms to shoot open, then come together in a big hug, as if they're trying to grab hold of you. It has probably saved countless baby monkeys whose moms were able to catch their out-stretched arms as they started to fall. (Learn more about the Moro reflex.)
What are the baby reflexes by month?
Most baby reflexes show up at birth and then fade in the months leading up to a baby’s first birthday. Here’s what to expect in the first two months.
What are the reflexes of a 1-month-old baby?
- At 1 month, most babies will have the following baby reflexes:
- Stepping reflex
- Rooting reflex
- Palmar grasp reflex
- Moro reflex
- Tonic neck reflex
- Plantar grasp reflex
- Calming reflex
- Sneezing reflex
- Crying reflex
- Sucking/swallowing reflex
What are the reflexes of a 2-month-old baby?
At 2 months, most babies will have the following baby reflexes:
- Rooting reflex
- Palmar grasp reflex
- Tonic neck reflex
- Plantar grasp reflex
- Calming reflex
- Sneezing reflex
- Crying reflex
- Sucking/Swallowing reflex
The following baby reflexes begin to disappear around 2 months:
- Stepping reflex (though this one reappears at the end of the first year as babies learn to walk)
- Moro reflex
Baby Reflexes: Final Thoughts
As your baby matures, their clunky old reflexes will be retired and forgotten, like a toddler’s tattered old blankie. But, early in life, many of these well-designed responses are literally life-saving.
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