infant reflexes stable?

[anangelsmommy, ADN, BSN, RN]

my agency sends me out visits and I do mostly pediatrics. One of the forms has a spot for a question that states reflexes stable? which seems like an odd qeustion to me. How do you think one determines if an infants reflexes are stable? most of the infants I deal with are developmentally delayed or have some sort of issue like they were born prematurely and are on an apnea monitor so they are premature but not neccesarily delayed developmentally. But if you test an infant, they have certain reflexes lets say, rooting, atnr, etc...but then I start to think about how a child with certain developmental delays actually holds on to these reflexes...I am reading too much into this, arent I? Can someone give me a simpler explanation of what this is looking for?

thanks!

angels mommy

[Isabelle49]

my agency sends me out visits and I do mostly pediatrics. One of the forms has a spot for a question that states reflexes stable? which seems like an odd qeustion to me. How do you think one determines if an infants reflexes are stable? most of the infants I deal with are developmentally delayed or have some sort of issue like they were born prematurely and are on an apnea monitor so they are premature but not neccesarily delayed developmentally. But if you test an infant, they have certain reflexes lets say, rooting, atnr, etc...but then I start to think about how a child with certain developmental delays actually holds on to these reflexes...I am reading too much into this, arent I? Can someone give me a simpler explanation of what this is looking for?

thanks!

angels mommy

My first thought about these reflexes is to determine an intact nervous system. A positive test for Moro reflex is one to check, a babinski is another. I always relied on the Moro with little ones, since the infant's reaction is pretty obvious. Developmental delay or prematurity should not affect a Moro reflex, except maybe in the infant who suffered cerebral hemorrhage (ICH) - not sure, but it might be depressed in this case. I think the reflex that is being looked at is on that would indicate intact cns. Hope this helps. Haven't done babies in a while, but spent 7 years in NICU. Luck to you!

[anangelsmommy, ADN, BSN, RN]

thank you. I did both. And the one baby did have an ICH so this could have affected nervous system. I guess the way I was looking at is that in a newborn, even with intracranial bleed, they say that infants can recover? Does this mean that the nervous system is stable or not? I was not really sure if this is what they it would indicate? or as long as you get a pos response to moro you are ok?

appreciate the response!

thanks!

angels mommy!

[Isabelle49]

thank you. I did both. And the one baby did have an ICH so this could have affected nervous system. I guess the way I was looking at is that in a newborn, even with intracranial bleed, they say that infants can recover? Does this mean that the nervous system is stable or not? I was not really sure if this is what they it would indicate? or as long as you get a pos response to moro you are ok?

appreciate the response!

thanks!

angels mommy!

I would have to do some research on the effect of ICH on reflexes. It would also depend on how severe the bleed was. I think as long as you get a pos response to moro, you would be ok. A suck reflex could be a funny thing especially in an infant who was intubated for a long time. I seem to remember they backed away from anything placed on their face or mouth and often had difficulty bottle feeding, which had to be introduced very slowly and patiently.

[Isabelle49]

Good info on Moro Reflex in Wikipedia.