This is going to be a short blog post. I may add another later for kicks and giggles but for now...
Today in my pediatrics class, we learned about the reflexes of an infant. Did you know that infants have a reflex call the extrusion reflex that makes them push solid objects/food out of their mouths until a certain month of living?
This reflex is basically the only thing we can go by for knowing when a child is ready to be eating solid foods or not. How amazing is that? It just doesn't make sense to me that science alone could do something like that. Babies have other reflexes that are protective reflexes: the parachute reflex or the rooting reflex.
The parachute reflex: when the baby is lifted of the ground and their head is pointed toward the ground, they lift their legs up in the back like their flying. It's almost like they do it to flip instead of hitting their heads.
The rooting reflex: When you brush anything on a newborns cheek, the automatically open their mouths and lean in that direction to suck. Of course, it is meant for breast-feeding.
Just step back for a moment and imagine all the amazing ways the body works and how almost every single one of us have these bodily functions but are still unique in so many different ways. That's cool : )
No comments:
Post a Comment