PEDIATRICS Vol. 31 No. 5 May 1963, pp. 734-740
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THE HAND-MOUTH REFLEX OF BABKIN IN PREMATURE INFANTS

Arthur H. Parmelee Jr. M.D.1

1 Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine

The hand-mouth reflex of Babkin consisting of head flexion and rotation with opening of the mouth in response to pressure on the palms of both hands was studied in 57 newborn infants. All but eight of these infants were premature, weighing less than 2,500 gm at birth. Only two infants did not respond at any time. One hundred seventy-nine tests were done, with 153 (85.4%) positive. Of the latter, 105 (68%) showed head flexion, 81 (53%) head rotation, and 106 (68.6%) mouth opening.

The responses seemed to be more easily obtained in the smaller premature infants, but the intensity was greater in the larger infants. Since there was also some indication that the test is state-dependent, especially in the larger infants, it is proposed that possibly the smaller premature infants have a narrower range of state from sleep to alertness. Thus the smaller infants might be expected to always give some degree of response regardless of state, whereas the large infants would only respond if in a somewhat aroused state, including light sleep.

The reflex seems to be very primitive in nature, since it was obtained in one very premature infant of 26 weeks gestation weighing 580 gm as well as in all but two of the other premature infants. No definite correlation of the absence of response or degree of response could be made with lesser degrees of neurological disorders in the newborn period. However, babies who were critically ill or in coma did not respond, or only responded weakly. The hand-mouth reflex of Babkin is still another of several primitive reflexes relating the hand and mouth in a sensory motor relationship. These are discussed.

Submitted on August 3, 1962
Accepted on September 7, 1962