The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Reflexes that continue into adulthood

Many reflexes that establish in embryo for basic survival continue into adulthood with no change. The Eye-blink reflex is when the blinking of the eyes occurs when they are touched or stimulated by a bright light (Feldman, 2009). The Eye-blink reflex protects and lubricates the eye and if not protected could result in drying up of the eye, which could ultimately result in blindness. The Eye-blink reflex is a reflex that is developed in embryo and lasts all throughout ones lifespan (Fillion et al., 1998). MedicineNet defines Startle reflex as an infant’s response to stimuli which results in a sudden body movement (para. 1) Startle reflex plays a close role to the eye-blink reflex as it is a subsequent reaction

It is one of the most mysterious disorders in medicine. According to author Hannah C. Kinney in the article, “The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome”, SIDS is the leading cause of post neonatal infant death in the United States. Kinney also states that, “SIDS has been substantially demystified by major advances in our understanding of its relationship to sleep and homeostasis, environmental and genetic risk factors, and biochemical and molecular abnormalities.” Sleep position is an immense factor to SIDS and with certain positions it can cut an infant’s chance of SIDS in half. If a neonatal sleeping position is belly down it can restrict them of turning their head, due to them not being fully muscularly developed or not having the reflexes to do so. The best way for a baby to sleep is on his back, a baby who is placed on his/her side can roll over on his stomach, which can smother the infant. With an infant who is still going through the Rooting reflex it is the best to not have anything in the crib or around so that the infant cannot grab things and unconsciously smother

A neonate’s auditory perception is equipped twenty-four weeks before it is full term and ready for delivery, which shows that once born its auditory perception should be strong. Although while in womb, sound waves have to travel through multiple layers of tissue and fluid of the mother before even reaching the baby, once the baby is born the sound is no longer muted. This can be very intense and sometimes even painful for the baby, however auditory perception is important and necessary for communication skills. In the article, “The Importance of Rapid Auditory Processing Abilities to Early Language Development: Evidence from Converging Methodologies” shows that,

One of the skills critical to the acquisition of language is the ability to process and categorize brief, rapidly changing auditory stimuli according within tens of milliseconds. These acoustic temporospectral cues are critically important for identifying and distinguishing formant transitions within speech, and are discriminated by infants well before speech is produced (Benasich et al.,