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Sucking reflex to what. Sucking reflex in newborns

Sun Oct 04, 2009 23:43

What threatens an unsatisfied sucking reflex.

The sucking reflex is formed in a child even in the prenatal period of development and has a decisive influence on the formation of his psyche in early childhood. In addition to the fact that due to this reflex, the child satisfies hunger, this remedy helps the baby calm down, feel more confident. The sucking reflex is the main one during the first year of a child's life, by the end of the third year of life it begins to weaken, and fades away only by the age of four. (Here, apparently, explanations are needed. It seemed to me that if they write some age limits, then everyone understands that all children are different, and changes do not occur exactly on the day of birth. It turns out that this is not clear to everyone. So: children are different It does not disappear at this age for everyone, but the age of two and a half years is determined by physiologists as the minimum for the beginning of the extinction of this reflex).

Especially dangerous is the dissatisfaction of the sucking reflex for phlegmatic people: this leads to a decrease in the overall emotional tone, subsequently suicidal tendencies and a tendency to prolonged depression are possible.

An unrealized sucking reflex in children who are weaned early or who are bottle-fed can lead to obsessive-compulsive disorder of varying degrees.
What does it mean:
1. Sucking foreign objects:
fingers (the most common);
fabrics (blankets, pillows, sleeve cuffs, collar corners, etc.),
stationery (ballpoint pen, brush or pencil in the mouth),
own hair (girls sometimes take the ends of their pigtails into their mouths);
favorite toys, etc.
2. Nail biting.
3. In boys, under the influence of a ban on sucking a nipple or a finger, the consequences of an unrealized reflex often lead to masturbation.
4. In the future, in adulthood, an unrealized sucking reflex causes the habit of smoking, or the habit of holding foreign objects in the mouth (pencil, etc.) persists. There is an opinion that the craving for smoking arises from the failure of the sucking reflex and the habit of “sucking in” nervousness and alertness. You can see that in stressful situations, smokers are more likely to reach for a cigarette, which confirms this assumption.

The child, as we have already said, is at the oral stage of development (from Latin Oral - mouth). But the unfavorable passage of this stage can give rise to neurotic reactions. For example, oral fixation can take place if the child has been deprived of mother's milk or caresses during the breast-feeding period. People with such a fixation are usually passive "they see the source of all maternal and spiritual blessings outside themselves" (Fromm), the most expressive part of their appearance is the mouth. Depending on the method of appearance, "active and passive" forms of oral aggression are distinguished. Active is associated with the desire to bite, including in the psychological sense of the word - verbally, this is expressed by malice and caustic remarks. Passive form - illness, refusal to eat, complaints.

Therefore, if a woman for some reason refuses to breastfeed before the sucking reflex fades in the child, she should try to find an “object for sucking”. If a child is bottle-fed from the very beginning, a pacifier is obligatory for him, since the harm from it is disproportionately less than from an unsatisfied reflex.

Why is a pacifier unnecessary, and even extremely harmful, to a child whose mother is breastfeeding on demand?

The baby needs communication with his parents, otherwise, spending all his time in the company of a pacifier, he will begin to trust them less.
American psychologists say: “If a child cries and you reach not for him, but for a pacifier, throw it away.” Of course, for a baby, the best comforter is not a nipple, but a mother.
If the child's mouth is constantly occupied with the nipple, this has a bad effect on the overall development, because in the period up to a year the child "learns the world through his mouth." In order for him to study objects, he must gnaw, lick, pull them into his mouth. If the mouth is busy, the main channel of perception is inactive, tactile information does not enter the brain fully enough.

If a woman wants to breastfeed her baby, she should never replace her breast (even occasionally) with a pacifier!

Baby sucks breast and bottle or pacifier in different ways:
Breast:
Milk is produced by peristaltic movements of the tongue. The nipple is not involved in sucking, it is at the level of the soft palate. The baby captures the chest as deeply as possible, opening his mouth wide, acting on the lactiferous sinuses, expresses milk with his tongue - squeezes it out, pressing his tongue against the sky. The asymmetry of capture is observed - the child captures more from below the areola. In addition, the flow of milk needs to be stimulated. And the baby knows that each tide is replaced by the next in time in response to his sucking movements and can wait patiently, sucking lightly. When sucking the breast, all muscle groups of the face are involved.

Bottle:
The principle of bottle sucking is based on pressure difference. When a baby sucks on a bottle, only the cheek muscles are involved. The baby makes a retracting movement and receives a continuous flow of milk. Not having the ability to compare objects and methods of sucking these objects, a child who receives both a breast and a bottle begins to get confused and captures the breast according to the principle of the bottle (after all, it is impossible to capture the bottle according to the principle of the breast). The movements of the tongue during such sucking change - it makes translational movements - back and forth. If the baby begins to suck on the breast like a bottle, she no longer receives the necessary stimulation and the level of prolactin (lactation hormone) decreases. In addition, the mother's nipple will no longer be located at the level of the soft palate and will begin to participate in sucking.

Sucking on a pacifier (and bottle) can lead to the following:
- Cracks, abrasions, nipple injuries;
- Lactostasis, mastitis
- Lack or excess of milk;
- Small set in weight;
- Lactase deficiency, frothy stools, severe regurgitation;
- Biting by the child of the breast, arching under the breast and crying;
- Rejection of the breast.
there are also known cases of skin allergies around the mouth due to pacifier sucking.

Let's turn to the psychology of a newborn: he is born with a certain set of expectations. When these expectations are met, a certain chain of development is formed, i.e. to build this chain, you need to go through each link in order. If the link fell out, the chain was interrupted or went in a different direction. Closeness to the mother and breastfeeding on demand are links in this chain. The baby learns love and trust in the arms of the mother. She helps him to know the world through associations. All this happens exclusively in her hands, because. only in this position the baby feels confident and forms a positive attitude towards the new world.

If a child is calmed by a pacifier, he switches to communication with an inanimate object, as if closing in on himself and calming himself. This leads to a decrease in research interest in the world, a decrease in the need to interact with other people, a slowdown in socialization, and is one of the causes of childhood autism. When a baby receives a breast when he is anxious, he receives endorphins - “hormones of joy” that suppress stress, and the nipple does not release these hormones, then the child’s nervous system suffers - which leads to malfunctions of the whole organism.

Finally - a wonderful quote from the book Trunov M., Kitaev L. Ecology of infancy. First year. - M., 1993 - 208
“However, sucking on a pacifier has another consequence. Look at a grown baby sucking on a pacifier. His eyes, as a rule, are half-closed and turned to nowhere. A kind of self-immersion. All this resembles the picture observed when sucking the mother's breast. However, only human reason, capable of reducing breast sucking to a mechanical act, can draw an identity between a mother's nipple and a pacifier. If we finally understand that breastfeeding is not just pumping milk, then we must understand that the difference between breastfeeding and pacifier sucking is the same as between full sexual intercourse and masturbation.

For a baby, such “self-deepening” results primarily in a decrease in activity in relation to the outside world. To the world that he must learn and imprint during this period. Search activity decreases, the tendency to research. And most importantly, doesn’t this lead to the habit of satisfying one’s needs in a surrogate way?

Marina Ozerova, teacher-psychologist, Israel

A three-month-old baby with a finger in his mouth will make the most callous heart tremble. But a three-year-old with a finger in his mouth would look weird.

If you see the picture more and more "finger in mouth" your child, you should think about the question - what is it and what to do with it?

Harm or benefit from thumb sucking?

It all depends on what age you are talking about. The baby tries his fingers when he is in the womb. Scientists suggest that in this way the child prepares for breastfeeding and thereby begins to develop a sucking reflex, or maybe feels the excitement of the mother and thumb sucking allows him to calm down. But this is just the speculation of scientists, because the child himself cannot answer.

At the age of three months, when the child's coordination becomes quite good, "" a kind of small victory - the child independently brings his little hand to his mouth at any time he wants. For several weeks, the child will learn to coordinate his movements, in particular "hand-mouth" so no need to interfere with it.

But time passes and the child grows. Not far off is his first birthday. Or maybe the child is already older, and the finger is still in the mouth. Parents begin to panic, assuming that if this habit persists, there will be quite a few problems. This, of course, is about worms, malocclusion and ugly appearance.

Parents will declare war on this new baby fashion. The war will be ruthless and useless. There can be a lot of reasons for thumb sucking, and each case must be analyzed separately, the only way to help the child without harming even more.

How does the baby feel about thumb sucking? Does it bother him? More likely no than yes. Until the age of 5-6 years, peers will not care if your child has a finger in his mouth or not. Ridicule may appear at school, but not before. And it turns out that this habit is unpleasant for us adults. Perhaps, on a psychological level, we understand that thumb sucking in a child does not happen just like that, but this is a clear symptom of some kind of trauma.

And our main help should be to identify the problem that leads to such incorrect behavior of the baby. Therefore, one should not try to get rid of the sign of “thumb sucking” by beating hands, or using various bitter ointments, and even express my position. It will not lead to anything good, and the problem itself, due to which this bad habit appeared, will not be solved.

In this article, we will try to understand the main causes of the sucking reflex in children.

Sucking reflex

Sucking reflex is the ability to suck on mother's breasts or nipples, without the need for training in this process. Refers to the main unconditioned reflexes.

Toddlers under 1 year old begin to suck their fingers when their main reflex cannot be satisfied to the extent they need. Many babies miss breast or bottle sucking, their reflex is stronger, and then they start sucking everything from toys, ending with their fingers and even toes.

When can you say that your baby has an unsatisfied sucking reflex:

If the child is not more than 1.5 years old. According to the norms, thumb sucking lasts from six months to 1.5 years.
The baby eats quickly, 5-10 minutes is enough. With artificial feeding, the problem is solved by reducing the hole in the bottle. But it happens that a child was immediately taught to drink from a spoon, and he simply does not know how to suck a bottle. When breastfeeding, the problem may be if the mother has too tight breasts and the baby has weak mouth muscles. Or there is a lot of milk, and the baby does not make any effort.

If the above suits you, then you can use the following to satisfy the sucking reflex:

Extend your breastfeeding time. If your baby is breastfeeding, don't write off. Let the baby stay at the breast for 35-45 minutes, even if he falls asleep and only occasionally sucks it. This advice will be especially important for mothers for the first months of their babies' lives.

Pick the right bottle. The bottle should end in the child after 15-20 minutes or more. Choose the hole in the nipple, which should be suitable for age. The manufacturer indicates all information on the packaging.

Buy a pacifier. You can argue for a long time whether you should give it to your child or not. If the sucking reflex is unsatisfied in a child, then it is better to buy a good pacifier than to provoke the habit of sucking fingers or other parts. Subsequently, a dummy can be “gifted” to a younger child, but a favorite part of the body for sucking will not work.

I want to clarify, babies under 1 year old often show their desire to eat by sucking their fingers. Therefore, before making a diagnosis unsatisfied sucking reflex» watch. The baby will be naughty and cry when he tries to suck his hand, because he expects milk from there. This will not develop into a bad habit if the mother learns to react and immediately feed the child, but it is better not to bring the child to such a hungry state.

Ordinary boredom can also be the cause. Mothers who spend enough time with their child, showering caresses, playing, picking up, then their baby simply does not have time to allocate time for sucking fingers. No, of course, it will drag into the mouth, but it will look different. The child pulled an object or a finger into his mouth only for a couple of seconds. Then he takes them out of his mouth and begins to examine. He tries again, a little longer in time and looks again. Such an order can be repeated more than once and such actions as: tapping an object on the surface, throwing or shaking it can be connected to it. This is how a child learns about the world. The baby, which has ceased to perform any actions, froze, the gaze is missing and the finger, or another object, ended up in the mouth, the child should be distracted from his thoughts, this can lead to a bad habit.

Bad habit

Habit- this is an action that is repeated and acquires the character of a need. To form a habit, it is necessary to repeatedly perform a series of actions that would be pleasant, and in the future become automatic and done without the use of effort. For example, you notice that your child, when watching TV, beckons to put his fingers in his mouth or when he is upset. Or he falls asleep hard without putting his thumb in his mouth.
Most likely, it all started with the fact that the child was overexcited before going to bed, and accidentally pulled his finger to his mouth. The finger turned out to be warm, and sucking it turned out to be very cute. The baby liked such feelings, he was able to calm down and fall asleep. A couple of days later, everything happened again, the baby decided to repeat the “trick” with a finger in his mouth. And thus a habit was formed, and even when the child is calm, he does not have anxiety, he needs to put his finger in his mouth before going to bed. That's the only way he can sleep.

If a child experiences stress, negative emotions, fear, such habits rush to the aid of the child in order to calm him down faster and become a universal solution.

Therefore, for parents whose child was surrounded by care and love, did not experience stress, this bad habit still appeared, which has common roots with a neurotic habit. First of all, parents begin to search for solutions to problems in themselves. Maybe you need to "work on yourself" more? "Sucking reflex problem" up to three years and can't be called a problem. The child sees in this many forms of behavior of the people around him. He starts to repeat something after any of us. He chooses what is most pleasant and understandable to him. This type of development will end and the problem of thumb sucking will end with it.

If you look at us as adults, we are all made up of habits: clicking a pen when we think, winding a lock of hair, twisting a ring on our finger, walking back and forth. We all need actions that will help us cope with this or that problem. Thumb sucking of a baby is a kind of “magic wand” that will help him in an unpleasant situation. It must be understood that this habit helps him, just like our bad habits help us adults.

And from here we can conclude, teach your child a different way to calm yourself and you will no longer be annoyed by the “finger in the mouth”. If you don't find an alternative, you won't be able to root out the problem. Such a habit will either return in the same form or take on a new form: nail biting, lip sucking, or toys. Therefore, the battle with habits should not include prohibitions, bitter ointments and educational conversations. They offer nothing in return.

If thumb sucking is your child's habit, then you need to start with the following:

You need to catch such a habit at the very beginning, before it enters the natural cycle in a child. Notice under what circumstances the child pulls his hands to his mouth when he is bored, sad or tired. Try suggesting another option. For example, finger massage before bed. And if you still hum a song during this action, it will be doubly useful. Playing with water will have the right effect on the child. The stimulating effects of water can not only benefit the fingers, but the entire body. Make such a procedure before going to bed so that the baby can calm down as much as possible without thumb sucking.

The child unconsciously copies the actions of the people around him. Pay attention to who among your acquaintances sucks fingers. Maybe older children, or adults in thought, even if not the finger itself, but the bone of the phalanx of the finger. If an adult is chosen as a role model, then the process of getting rid of this habit will have to begin with him. Older children sucking their fingers, which the younger one imitates, is a rather complicated situation. You need to start by analyzing your time that you devote to the kids. How much of this time is positive. But all this is best done with a psychologist.

If you catch your child sucking his thumb, try to distract him in a smart way without focusing on it. Invite him to do something else: dance, play games to develop motor skills, or just read a book. The child is bored, do everything to distract him from this. And if the baby is tired, then hug, caress, the massage of the arms and legs will work well - finger gymnastics. Just do not turn all these actions into a child's reflex to communicate with you. You need to do these things all the time, and not just at the moment you start sucking your thumb.

An unconscious habit can disappear on its own. Therefore, do not focus, and even more so do not yell at the child. The constant jerking of the baby, hitting the arms, wrapping, all this will go into another habit - attracting your attention, even if it is negative.

Psychological problem.

One step separates a bad habit from a psychological problem. Cases where it can be assumed that thumb sucking is a psychological distress:

The baby was under a lot of stress. Perhaps death from relatives or the most beloved pet, a serious illness that a child suffered or a strong fright. Be on the lookout, the child may begin to suck his thumb much later than all these transferred consequences.

The child lives in a family where there are constant scandals, a showdown, or vice versa, a “silent war”. Here an adult will lose their nerves, not only a child.

The arrival of a brother or sister. Moving to another city. These are joyful events for adults, but for a child it can be a true test.

The feeling of uselessness can lead to problems in emotional formation. This is noticeable in children who were not needed initially. The lack of communication between mother and child, the necessary amount of warmth and care, all this will result not only in the sucking reflex, but also in many other psychological symptoms.

You did everything in your power, paid enough attention to the child, distracted him when he pulled his fingers into his mouth, but he stubbornly continues to suck his fingers, this means only one thing, the problem is much deeper than we think.

Sucking reflex as a psychological problem is rarely a single symptom. If the stress was strong, the child may lose the skills that he has already formed - eat on his own, use the potty, speak. This is where developmental regression occurs. If the atmosphere at home is pleasant, everyone supports the child, then everything will be fine and the child will remember everything and learn. And if the situation at home is difficult, the mother does not show warmth, child care is formal (dressed, well-fed), then a whole “bouquet” of other neurotic disorders will connect to the sucking reflex. The kid begins to show inappropriate behavior - panic, squealing, aggression. Consider contacting a psychologist, each case will have its own recommendations.

thumb sucking is an important symptom that shows your child needs help. Before 1 year of age, there will be activities to help satisfy the sucking reflex. Until the age of 3, support the child, he may be tired, anxious, or bored. Over 3 years old, a thumb sucking child has psychological problems.

A few months ago, in the era of big battles in "Kids", someone wrote to me that the sucking reflex dies off not at 3-4 years, as the employees of "Rozhana" say in their articles, but at 4-6 months, which is available in written form. neurology textbooks.

The question was carefully studied by me and now I can answer it.

Since the question of the composite reflex was raised in connection with my substantiation of the need for a long-term GV, I cannot but touch upon one more aspect. Regardless of the timing of the extinction of the sucking reflex, need to suck, according to psychologists, can persist in a child up to 3-4 years and even longer, especially if it was not properly satisfied in infancy. Thus, breastfeeding should ideally be continued until the baby's need for suckling is fully satisfied.

If, for some reason, breastfeeding did not take place or was curtailed in infancy, a bottle or pacifier should not be completely excluded from a child’s life until the age of complete satisfaction of the need! An unsatisfied need for sucking can cause neurosis and other dysfunctional conditions at an older age - most psychologists are in solidarity with this.

Sucking is a very complex process. 5 pairs of nerves in the cranium are responsible for its implementation. It is easy to check this reflex in a child - just stroke his cheek or touch his lips. The baby will open his mouth and begin to move his tongue, as if he wants to suck.

The suckling reflex in a newborn is the ability to suck on the mother's breast or on a nipple on a bottle of formula placed in the mouth. No one specifically teaches sucking a child, since this is not a skill, but one of the most important reflexes (it is formed even in the process of intrauterine development). Further, this reflex has a positive effect on the child's psyche and with the help of it, the baby satisfies hunger.

It occurs in the first hours and belongs to the group of innate reflexes that ensure the survival of the newborn. In the process of feeding, when the palate is touched, the baby begins to suck milk from the breast or from the bottle. The severity of the sucking reflex in the baby determines whether the baby is hungry or full.

The instinct weakens after eating, however, after an hour it reminds of itself again. Rhythmic sucking has a good calming effect on the baby. In the process of sucking, the baby can even fall asleep, because he feels under reliable mother's protection, he is calm and comfortable.

How long does this phenomenon last?

How old is the sucking reflex in a newborn?

As already noted, a born baby begins to suck after 2-3 hours, and the formation and emergence of this reflex takes place long before birth. A few hours after birth, the baby begins an active search for the mother's breast in order to realize its natural instinct.

The duration at which the sucking reflex in infants is most pronounced is the first 12 months of life. Then, closer to a year, it begins to weaken. And by about 3-4 years it disappears completely.

For this reason, many experts agree that breastfeeding is necessary until the complete disappearance of the sucking reflex in accordance with the norms inherent in nature.

You can determine the weakness of the touch instinct in the process of feeding. Healthy babies immediately and eagerly take the mother's breast and suck it quite actively. And newborns, in whom this reflex is reduced, fall asleep during feeding, they rarely swallow, sluggish, often completely refusing the mother's breast.

The main reasons for a decrease in the sucking reflex in a newborn include:

  • hypoxia during pregnancy or childbirth;
  • severe somatic conditions;
  • mental retardation;
  • paresis of the facial nerves;
  • sometimes SARS,.

The reason may be improper attachment of the baby to the mother's breast:

1. First, make sure that the baby is finally awake and wants to eat. To do this, slide your finger along the corner of your mouth. If the baby is hungry, he will try to grab your finger, confusing it with a breast nipple.

  • the chin of the baby is pressed to the chest;
  • his mouth is wide open;
  • the lower jaw is pushed down;
  • the distance between the upper lip of the child and the nipple should be greater than under the lower one.

3. If the baby has difficulty breathing (with a cold or) - this is also an obstacle to the full implementation of the reflex. At the same time, the baby will begin to suck sluggishly, take breaks.

4. Also, the reason for the weakening of the instinct may be the wrong shape of the nipples (inverted) -.

If you are unable to cope with the problem, it would be better to contact a breastfeeding specialist, since serious disorders in the central nervous system may be hidden behind this trouble.

Lack of reflex

If the sucking reflex is absent, this is the first sign that the functioning of the central nervous system, and specifically the brain stem, is disrupted, and this is a dangerous neurological symptom. With the complete absence of this reflex, the baby has practically no chance of survival.

The reason for the lack of a sucking reflex, as a rule, is a neurological pathology:

  • weakness of chewing muscles;
  • language;
  • circular muscle of the mouth.

Any self-medication by the parents in this case is unacceptable. At first, you will need to feed the baby from a spoon. But expert advice is needed.

The presence of reflexes indicates the full state of his central nervous system. In the process of their formation, a phased, full-fledged development of the child takes place.