| Reflex |
Stimulation |
Response |
Age of Disappearance |
Function |
| Eye blink |
Shine bright light at eyes or clap hand near head |
Infant quickly closes eyelids |
Permanent |
Protects infant from strong stimulation |
| Rooting |
Stroke cheek near corner of mouth |
Head turns toward source of stimulation |
3 weeks (becomes voluntary head turning at this time) |
Helps infant find the nipple |
| Sucking |
Place finger in infant’s mouth |
Infant sucks finger rhythmically |
Replaced by voluntary sucking after 4 months |
Permits feeding |
| Swimming |
Place infant face down in pool of water |
Infant paddles and kicks in swimming motion |
4-6 months |
Helps infant survive if dropped into water |
| Moro |
Hold infant horizontally on back and let head drop slightly, or produce a sudden loud sound against surface supporting infant |
Infant makes an “embracing” motion by arching back, extending legs, throwing arms outward, and then bringing arms in toward the body |
6 months |
In human evolutionary past, may have helped infant cling to mother |
| Palmar grasp |
Place finger in infant’s hand and press against palm |
Spontaneous grasp of finger |
3-4 months |
Prepares infant for voluntary grasping |
| Tonic neck |
Turn infant’s head to one side while he is lying awake on back |
Infant lies in a “fencing position”. One arm is extended in front of eyes on side to which head is turned, other arm is flexed |
4 months |
May prepare infant for voluntary reaching |
| Stepping |
Hold infant under arms and permit bare feet to touch a flat surface |
Infant lifts one foot after another in stepping response |
2 months in infants who gain weight quickly; sustained in lighter infants |
Prepares infant for voluntary walking |
| Babinski |
Stroke sole of foot from toe toward heel |
Toes fan out and curl as foot twists in |
8-12 months |
Unknown |
(Knobloch & Pasamanick, 1974; Prechtl & Beintema, 1965; Thelen, Fisher, & Ridley-Johnson, 1984 as cited in Berk, 2008)
| Social |
Emotional |
- Look at caregiver
- Study caregiver’s face
- Smile in response to caregiver
- Imitate some facial expressions
|
- Calm down when comforted by caregiver
- Enjoy being touched and cuddled
|
| Language |
Cognitive |
- Have different cries
(e.g., tired, hungry)
- Have a variety of sounds
(e.g., coos, gurgles)
- Laugh out loud
|
- Recognize and calm down to familiar gentle voice
- Watch faces intently
|
| Motor |
| Gross Motor |
Fine Motor |
- Lift head when on tummy
- Hold head up when held at caregiver’s shoulder
- Raise head when lying on back
- Bring hands together
(at midline of body)
|
Open and shut hands |
| Perceptual (sensory) |
| Hearing |
Vision |
- Startle to loud or sudden noises
- Can be quieted by a
familiar friendly voice
- Prefer complex sounds (e.g., noises, voices) to pure tones
- Distinguish some sound patterns
- Listen longer to human speech than to non-speech sounds
- Turn eyes and head in the general direction of a sound
|
- Follow things that are moving slowly with his eyes
- Eyes wander and occasionally cross
- Prefer black-and-white or high-contrast patterns (e.g., large squares, stripes, circles)
- Prefer the human face to all other patterns
- Prefer caregiver’s face over unfamiliar faces
- Slow and inaccurate eye movements in tracking moving objects
- Turn eyes and head to look at light source
|
| Touch |
Taste and Smell |
- Respond to touch and pain
- Distinguishes shape of object
placed in palm
- Prefer soft to coarse sensations
- Dislike rough or abrupt handling
- Touch, especially skin-to-skin, decreases infant’s stress hormones
|
- Recognize the scent of his own mother’s breastmilk
- Prefer the scent of human milk, even that of a different mother
- Distinguish odours; prefer those of
sweet-tasting foods
- Avoid bitter or acidic smells
- Distinguish sweet, sour, and bitter tastes;
prefer sweetness
|
| Nutrition/Feeding |
| Nutrition |
Feeding skills |
- Breastfeed exclusively
- Take 400 IU of Vitamin D per day
- If not breastfeeding, take
iron-fortified formula
- Take no other fluids or solids
|
- Suck well on the nipple
- Use negative pressure to create effective seal
- Cough or gasp if flow is too fast
- Use a rhythmic sucking pattern with sucking bursts of 10 - 20 sucks
- Coordinate suck - swallow - breathe pattern
- Feed at least 8 times per day
|
| Social |
Emotional |
- Laugh and smile at caregiver
- Respond to caregiver by making sounds and moving arms and legs
- Enjoy playing with people and may cry when playing stops
- Imitate some facial expressions
|
- Cry differently for different needs
- Show comfort and discomfort
|
| Language |
Cognitive |
- Make sounds when looking at toys or people
- Responds to caregiver by making sounds
- Blow bubbles, sputter loudly
- Make simple vocalizations containing mostly vowel, but sometimes a number of consonants (cooing stage)
|
- Follow a moving object or
person with his eyes
- Glance from one object to another
- Recognize familiar objects and people
- Begin to have some awareness that objects exist even when he cannot see them
|
| Motor |
| Gross Motor |
Fine Motor |
- Bring both hands to chest and keep head in midline when lying on back
- Lift head and chest and support self on forearms when placed on tummy
- Head does not lag when he is pulled into a sitting position
- Push down on legs when feet are placed on a firm surface
- Hold head steady when supported at the chest or waist in a sitting position.
- Roll from side to back
|
- Play with hands at midline of body
- Bring hand to mouth (e.g. put toys or fingers in mouth)
- Suck fingers and fists
- Take swipes at dangling objects with hands
- Grasp and shake hand toys
- Reach for an object when supported in a sitting position
- Hold an object briefly when placed in hand
- Use ulnar grasp when reaching (e.g., infant’s fingers close against the palm)
|
| Perceptual (sensory) View “by two months of age” |
| Nutrition/Feeding |
| Nutrition |
Feeding |
|
- View “by two months of age”
- May have developed a “routine” for feeding times
- Feed frequently both day and night (7 - 12 times per day)
|
| Social |
Emotional |
- Smile and babble when given adult attention
- Enjoy social play
- Be interested in mirror images
- Mimic facial expressions better and repeat them even after a time delay of up to one day
- Inspect faces of his caregiver
|
- Engage in self-soothing behaviours to control emotions (e.g., sucking fingers)
- Express pleasure and displeasure
- Distinguishes emotions by tone of voice
|
| Language |
Cognitive |
- Turn head and look in direction
of a new sound
- Respond to own name
- Seem to respond to some words
(e.g., daddy, bye-bye)
- Recognize and prefer caregivers voice
- Listen and look at caregiver’s face
when he or she speaks
- Smiles and laughs in response to caregiver’s smiles and laughter
- Make sounds while caregiver is
talking to him
- Vocalize pleasure and displeasure (e.g., squeal with excitement or grunt in anger)
- Imitate cough or other sound
(e.g. “ah, eh, buh”)
- Babble, using a variety of sounds
- Babble chains of consonants; make “ga, gu, da, ba” sounds (joins vowels and consonants); repeat syllables
|
- Find partially hidden object
- Swipe at and reach for object within view
- Explore with hands and mouth
- Respond to “peek-a-boo”
- Spend longer studying toys and what to do with them
|
| Motor |
| Gross Motor |
Fine Motor |
- Roll from back to side
- Sit with support (e.g. pillows)
- Support his whole weight on his legs when held in standing position
- Push up on hands when on tummy
|
- Use hands to reach, grasp, bang, and splash
- Bring hands or toy to mouth
- Shake objects
- Reach with one hand
- Use raking grasp (not pincer) using all fingers
- Hold onto toys or objects
- Pat and pull at your hair, glasses, and face
|
| Perceptual (sensory) |
| Hearing |
Vision |
- Respond to speech sounds by stopping
to play, becoming quiet
- Turn head toward either side to
locate a source of sound
- Brighten to sound, especially to
people’s voices
- Can distinguish musical tunes
- Identify location of a sound
more precisely
- Become sensitive to syllable stress patterns in own language
|
- Turn head from side to side to follow a toy
- Glance from one object to another
- Prefer more complex pattern (e.g., checkerboard)
- Colour vision is well developed by 4 months of age
- 20/20 vision reached by 6 months of age
(ability to see object clearly)
- Eyes track moving objects with increasing skill; by 5 months of age, can track objects moving at differing speeds and on intricate paths
|
| Touch |
Taste and Smell |
- Explore most objects with his mouth
- Enjoy touch
(e.g., being held, stroked, tickled)
|
- Prefer a salty taste to plain water
- Readily change taste preferences through experience
|
| Nutrition/Feeding |
| Nutrition |
Feeding |
- View “by two months of age”
- Begin to try iron-rich foods such as iron-fortified infant cereal or pureed meats
|
- Show signs of readiness for solid foods:
- Hold head steady when supported
in a sitting position
- Have lost the protrusion reflex that causes
him to push solids out of his mouth
- Show interest in foods others are eating
|
| Social |
Emotional |
- Have a special smile for familiar adults
- Fuss or cry if familiar caregiver looks or behaves differently
- Become upset when caregiver leaves
- Possibly turn away from strangers in anxiety, caution, shyness or fear (stranger anxiety)
- Smile at his image in a mirror
|
- Respond to expressions of emotion
from other people
- Reach to be picked up and held
|
| Language |
Cognitive |
- Turn to look for a source of sound.
- Respond to telephone ringing or a
knock on the door
- Understand short instructions
(e.g., “Wave bye-bye, “No”, “Don’t touch”)
- Babble a series of different sounds
(e.g., “babababa”, duhduhduh”)
- Make sounds and/or gestures to
get attention or help.
- Imitate speech sounds
|
- Look for a hidden toy
- Struggle to get objects that are
just out of reach
- Drop toys and watch them fall
- Begin to manipulate toys to make them do something (e.g., banging blocks together)
|
| Motor |
| Gross Motor |
Fine Motor |
- Sit without support for a few minutes
- Attempt to move by crawling, “bum” shuffling or pivoting on tummy
- Stand with support, when helped
into standing position
- Control his upper body and arms
- Lunge forward to grab toy
|
- Pass an object from one hand to the other
- Pick up small items using thumb and first finger (e.g., crumbs, cheerios, rice)
- Bang two objects together
- Use his hands and mouth to explore an object
- Throw and drop objects
- Pounce on moving toys
|
| Perceptual (sensory) |
| Hearing |
Vision |
- Respond to soft levels of speech
and other sounds
- Temporarily stop action in response to “no”
- Babble using a variety of repeated consonant-vowel combinations - e.g. “ba-ba”, “ga-ga”
- Make sounds with rising and falling pitches
|
- Notice small items the size of breadcrumbs
- Show interest in pictures
- Recognize partially hidden objects
- Have developed depth perception
|
| Touch |
Taste and Smell |
|
|
| Nutrition/Feeding |
| Nutrition |
Feeding |
- Continue frequent and on demand breastfeeding
- Take complementary iron-rich foods
2 - 3 times per day
- Take pureed, mashed or very soft foods
|
- Begin to drink from cup
- Show an interest in foods, open mouth, may lean forward when solids are offered
- Show disinterest in food by keeping mouth closed, leaning or turning away
- Swallow pureed or mashed food with very small, soft lumps
- Use tongue in an up and down, not sideways movement
|
| Social |
Emotional |
- Be shy or anxious with strangers
- Cry when caregiver leaves; separation anxiety
- Possibly be fearful in some situations
- Imitate people in play
- Show specific preferences for
certain people and toys
- Prefer mother and/or regular caregiver
over all others
- Extend arm or leg to help when being dressed
- Test parental responses to his actions during feedings and play
- Repeat sounds or gestures for attention
- Play games with caregiver
(e.g., peek-a-boo, pat-a-cake)
- Show caregiver toys
|
- Use facial expressions, actions, and lots of sounds or words to make needs known or to protest
- Show many emotions such as affection, anger, joy or fear
- Regulate emotions by moving (e.g., crawling) away from various situations
- Seek comfort
(e.g., reach up to be held when upset)
|
| Language |
Cognitive |
- Pay increasing attention to speech
- Look at person saying his name
- Understand simple requests and questions
(e.g., “Where is the ball?” “Find your shoes”).
- Use simple gestures, such as shaking head
for “no”; wave “bye-bye”
- Combine sounds together as though talking
(e.g. bada banuh abee)
- Take turns making sounds with you
- Use exclamations such as “oh-oh!”
- Consistently use 3 or more words including “dada” or “mama” even if not pronounced accurately
- Show interest in simple picture books
|
- Explore objects in many different ways (shaking, banging, throwing, dropping)
- Respond to music
- Look at correct picture when the
image is named
- Imitate gestures
- Begin to use objects correctly (drinking from cup, brushing hair, dialing phone, listening to receiver)
- Begin to explore cause and effect
|
| Motor |
| Gross Motor |
Fine Motor |
- Get up into a sitting position from
lying down, without help
- Crawl or “bum” shuffle easily.
- Creep on hands and knees supporting
trunk on hands and knees
- Get from sitting to crawling or prone
(lying on stomach) position
- Pull up to stand at furniture
- Walk holding onto your hands or furniture
- Stand momentarily without support
- May take two or three steps without support
- Start to climb stairs/steps or furniture
|
- Put objects into container
- Take things out of containers (e.g., blocks)
- Let objects go voluntarily
- Pick up small items using tips
of thumb and first finger
- Push a toy
- Take off socks
|
| Perceptual (sensory) |
| Hearing |
Vision |
- Recognize the same melody played
in different keys
- Will turn and find sound in any direction
- “Screens out” sounds not used in native language
- Detect speech units crucial to understanding meaning, including familiar words and regularities in sound and word sequences
|
- Prefer patterns and moving patterns
- Detect familiar objects even when represented by an incomplete drawing
- Look through windows and
recognize people
- Recognize pictures or people in pictures
- Play hide and seek
|
| Touch |
Taste and Smell |
- Explore a variety of textures with hands and sometimes with mouth
|
- Willing to try a variety of new tastes
- Show likes and dislikes of tastes and smells
|
| Nutrition/Feeding |
| Nutrition |
Feeding |
- Take complementary iron-rich foods
- Take bite-sized pieces of table food
- May drink whole milk
|
- Feed at regular times
- May have 3 meals and 2 snacks
- Finger-feed himself some foods
- Hold, bite and chew crackers
- Use side to side tongue movements as well as up and down
|
