Why does my baby always make chewing movements with his mouth?

Many babies, when they are infants and young children, may often suck and move their mouths while sleeping. In this case, many parents think that this reaction is abnormal when the baby is not fed. In fact, there is no need to worry too much. This is a normal physiological reaction and also a reflex sucking. It usually disappears after the baby is one year old.

Brief description 1. Time of occurrence: 0-3 months

2. Characteristics: The baby will suck when you put things in his mouth. After 6 weeks, breathing, sucking and swallowing reflexes are coordinated and feeding becomes more efficient.

3. Clinical manifestations: Lightly stroke or tap the lips, and the orbicularis oris muscle will immediately contract, causing the upper and lower lips to purse, causing a "sucking" action. Normal people do not have this reflex.

4. Disappearance time: It will start to disappear slowly after 3 months.

Clinical significance: The chewing function of newborn babies is not yet complete, and they can only take in breast milk or formula milk through sucking. Therefore, when objects such as cotton swabs or fingers are placed in the baby's mouth, the baby will naturally suck.

The sucking reflex and the milk-seeking reflex are complementary reflex reactions. The baby must be able to seek milk and perform sucking movements in order to truly achieve the effect of drinking milk and supplementing nutrition. Otherwise, the bottle or nipple is placed in the baby's mouth, but the baby is unable to suck. It can be seen from this that if babies cannot obtain food by sucking, in addition to possible problems with neurological development, the way and amount of nutrition absorbed by the baby will also be hindered.

The sucking reflex is an important indicator for determining whether the newborn's brain is developing normally. If these two most primitive reflexes do not appear when the baby is just born, the baby will have difficulties in eating and surviving. Therefore, it may be necessary to suspect whether the baby has brain damage such as hypoxia, ischemia or cerebral lesions. However, a diagnosis can only be made after a detailed examination and evaluation. The absence of a certain reflex reaction in an infant does not necessarily mean that the infant has a disease or developmental abnormality.

Modern medicine uses the sucking reflex of comatose patients to turn "waste" into "treasure" and successfully insert a gastric tube.

Method: Insert the gastric tube through the nose. When the tip reaches the opening of the esophagus and pharynx, touch the corner of the patient's mouth with your fingers. The patient will suck and swallow. Then, coordinate with the sucking and swallowing rhythm and gradually, slowly and gently place the gastric tube in place. This method is simple and easy to use. It solves the problem that comatose patients often cannot follow instructions to swallow and cooperate with nurses for intubation, making it difficult for medical staff to insert a gastric tube.