When is Infant Reflex work helpful for Infants?
The movement “alphabet” of Brain Gym® like so many movement modalities finds many of its origins in infant reflexes. Infant reflexes are an instinctual, universal movement language that all human beings share. These automatic movement patterns are the way a baby “knows” to do everything it needs to do to survive from turning over in the womb, to wriggling through the birth canal, to taking its first breath, to bonding with mom, to sucking, crawling, walking . . . the list is endless. These movement patterns are hard-wired to the brain stem, which means that the baby has no choice about performing them once they are stimulated. It’s like when the doctor hits your knee with the little rubber hammer your foot flies out involuntarily. Because infant reflexes are wired into every aspect of human development, it’s good to make sure that the reflexes are progressing normally. There are “ballpark” times for different reflexes to appear, and to integrate into higher functions of the brain. When
