Motor Development

A newborn is not nearly as helpless as is often assumed. The activities needed to sustain life — breathing, sucking, swallowing, and eliminating bodily wastes — are already present at birth. Within the first week of life, newborns can indicate the direction a sound is coming from, can distinguish their mother's voice from other women's voices, and can imitate simple gestures such as sticking out the tongue or opening the mouth.

A newborn's movements are governed by reflexes — automatic, built-in responses to particular stimuli. These are genetically carried survival mechanisms that act as adaptive responses even before the infant has had any chance to learn, and they also serve as the building blocks for later, more deliberate motor skills. Some reflexes — such as coughing, blinking and yawning — persist throughout life; others fade away as the brain matures and voluntary control over behaviour develops. The rooting reflex (turning the head and opening the mouth when the cheek is touched) typically disappears between 3 and 6 months. The Moro reflex (throwing the arms outward and arching the back in response to a loud noise, then bringing the arms back together as if grasping something) typically disappears by 6-7 months, although the general startle reaction to loud noise remains for life. The grasp reflex (fingers closing automatically around an object, such as a finger, pressed into the palm) typically disappears by 3-4 months, at which point it is replaced by voluntary grasping. The Babinski reflex (the toes fanning out and then curling when the sole of the foot is stroked) typically disappears between 8 and 12 months. …