One thing about which you've written, Dr Karp, is one I'd hoped to see
addressed in your e-mails to Lactnet. But other than stating it, I didn't see
anything about how you came to conclude that there is a calming reflex.
I'd read in a pediatric text book a decade or so ago that often babies'
reflexes guide them into behavior. After a certain amount of time appropriate
learning usually occurs, and the reflex fades when it is no longer needed. We
also know that something like the Babinski reflex exists until the nerves
become fully myelinated, then that disappears.
I guess that when I think of a reflex, I think of a sensory input that is
integrated within the baby and results most often in a motor response.
The rooting reflex, the step reflex and the grasp reflex would be examples
of that. Then are ones like the Moro response, the tonic neck reflex, the
startle reflex, the grasp. Some of these reflexes are used to determine if
the infant is neurologically intact.
In the late 1980's - 1990's the research in Sweden by Dr. Righard and
Margaret Alade shows newborns capable of a complex behavior of crawling to the
breast after birth. They speak of a reflex involved -- the step reflex that
helps in propelling them there. And we can see in that video that the rooting
reflex appears to help the baby turn toward the breast. But these researchers
don't call this breast-seeking behavior a reflex. Reflexes do seem to be
assisting the babies in what may be a behavior hard-wired to their systems.
I guess I'm having difficulty with the use of the term calming 'reflex'. I
think that I would chose to use caution before using a term such as reflex
with a baby behavior, especially when explaining things to parents. There
are so many different types of cries, the ones parents come to recognize: anger,
frustration, discomfort, pain; and then are other cries like those
associated with the genetic disorder cri du chat syndrome, or the cephalic cry.
Crying is a complex behavior and because of that I'd rather see caution used when
creating a phrase to describe the ease of bringing a baby to a state of
calm. Perhaps baby's response to calming ways of parents is a behavior
hard-wired into them. But is it a reflex? Reflex implies an automatic response, most
often a motor one. Even if the results of tools to calm a baby seem to happen
almost instantaneously, I still not convinced that qualifies as a reflex.
I do know how extraordinarily fast a baby can calm from a loud screaming cry
to a total alert quiet state. A couple was bringing their new baby boy - I
think going on two days old -- down to show him to their childbirth
classmates -- who'd made it to the breastfeeding class before their babies were born.
;-) This baby was screaming loudly. I think the Dad was probably
distressed. But they came in all happy wanting to show off their son.
I asked if I might try to calm him to show the class how it's done. He was
hardly in my arms a minute before he was totally relaxed and calmly looking
around the room. The parents and parents -to-be were very impressed.
Probably too much so. Why to I say that? Because I think that the parents were
distraught about the crying and didn't know what to do. I knew I could calm the
baby and I was calm and serene myself. I do think that at first parents who
are stressed are going to need to build the confidence that they can calm
their babies and yes, tools like you describe can help them to do so. And I
did share with them some of the ideas involved. And your book is in our lending
library.
Since I'm still looking for more to read about all this, I 'd very much like
that bibliography that you offered. Thank you,
Mardrey Swenson, IBCLC
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