The Moro reflex is an early infantile survival reflex and describes the behavior towards a threatening situation which occurs also in other mammals. The pediatrician Ernst Moro discovered and named the reflex after himself.
Trigger of the Moro reflex is a sudden stimulus which frightens children. Babies open their mouth, breathe in fiercely, move their arms and straddle their fingers. Afterwards they breathe out move their arms back to body and clench their fists.
This course of movement proceeds rapidly and enables suckling for instance the first breath when they are threatened to choke.
History shows that the Moro reflex grants sucklings a secure hold of their mother’s fur when danger occurs. You can notice this reflex while observing primates.
The persistent Moro reflex
The startle response normally replaces Moro reflex during neuronal development in the second to fourth month. Persistence of Moro reflex is perceived when a baby is older than 4 or 5 months. These children are often jumpy and sleep very anxiously. They often wake up at night because of that reflex.
Moro reflex in adulthood is actually observable too. Persistence of Moro reflex is especially unpleasant in childhood and leaves the growing person concerned with many questions. This results in distortion of perception and at long last in anxiety, disorder of coordination, balance problems, photosensitivity and eyestrain. You can ascribe recurring infections in the ENT Ear-nose-throat area to persistent Moro reflex.
What can you do?
Wrap your baby tightly in a soft blanket or in the special NONOMO® swaddle if it suffers from persistent Moro reflex. By this, you can avoid uncontrolled startle response while baby is sleeping at night.
Many babies don’t startle too when they are close to their parents and in motion e.g. when they are carried or in the NONOMO® hammock.
Being limited in the space of movement reminds many babies of their time in womb and the granted security. So many babies calm down when they are wrapped in a swaddle.
