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A study of normal baby movements
Author(s) -
WEGGEMANN T.,
BROWN J. K.,
FULFORD G. E.,
MINNS R. A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
child: care, health and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.832
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1365-2214
pISSN - 0305-1862
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2214.1987.tb00522.x
Subject(s) - movement (music) , tonic (physiology) , physical medicine and rehabilitation , psychology , stretch reflex , reflex , medicine , audiology , electromyography , neuroscience , physics , acoustics
Summary Summary Twenty‐five normal newborns aged between 3 and 6 days had their movements recorded by (a) clinical observation in a controlled environment, (b) chart recording from an automatic movement mattress over 4 hours, and (c) cine photography triggered by the movement mattress. Over 80 different individual types of movement were grouped into six categories: (a) progression movements (obligatory reciprocal movements), (b) symmetrical movements (slower flexion or extension movements), (c) startle movements, (d) asymmetrical tonic neck reflex and ‘Moro’, (e) facial movements and (f) athetoid movements. The normal newborn's motor activity is significantly related to the level of arousal, gestational age, and environmental variables sueh as position, temperature, light and noise.