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Retained Primitive Reflexes
Primitive reflexes should fade as the brain matures. When they linger, they can shape attention, coordination, posture, and emotional regulation.
What you may be noticing
Your child startles easily, cannot sit still, hates tags in clothing, wets the bed past the expected age, has night terrors, W-sits on the floor, struggles with handwriting, or melts down with change. Reading may tire their eyes quickly. Or you notice these patterns in yourself: poor posture, motion sickness, anxiety, and a sense of being always on alert.
Why it is rarely one thing
Primitive reflexes are automatic movement patterns that help a baby survive and develop: the Moro startle, the rooting and sucking reflexes, the grasp reflexes, the tonic neck reflexes. As the higher brain matures, these reflexes are meant to integrate, folded into more mature, voluntary control.
When reflexes are retained, it is a sign that higher brain centers have not fully taken the lead. That is not a fault of the child or the parents. Birth trauma, cesarean delivery, limited tummy time, skipping crawling, ear infections, head injury, and toxic or inflammatory stress have all been linked with retained reflexes in clinical practice.
Because these reflexes are organized in the brainstem and early motor circuits, I place their integration in the first phase of care, alongside nervous system safety. A heightened startle reflex keeps the stress response close to the surface, in adults as well as children.
Retained reflexes are not usually the whole story. They are a visible marker of brain timing and maturity, and integrating them gives the brain a stronger foundation for everything built on top.
Patterns we look for
- Moro reflex: heightened startle, anxiety, sensory sensitivity, and emotional reactivity.
- Asymmetric tonic neck reflex (ATNR): difficulty crossing the midline, handwriting struggles, reading challenges.
- Symmetric tonic neck reflex (STNR): W-sitting, slumping at a desk, poor hand-eye coordination.
- Tonic labyrinthine reflex (TLR): balance problems, motion sickness, toe walking.
- Spinal Galant reflex: fidgeting, bedwetting, sensitivity to waistbands.
- Palmar, plantar, and rooting reflexes: fine motor, foot, and speech articulation challenges.
- Vestibular and cerebellar function, and eye movement control.
- Hemispheric balance between left and right brain.
- Gut, nutrient, and toxic stressors that slow brain development.
- Tongue and lip ties and fascia tension, which affect oral reflexes and posture.
How I evaluate it
For children, the comprehensive functional neurological exam begins with rapport and play, then observation of posture, gait, and behavior, cranial nerves through games, tone, strength, deep tendon reflexes, coordination, and finally each primitive reflex. Adults are tested too, because retained reflexes can persist for life.
Functional labs are added when the history suggests gut, nutrient, or toxic contributors, such as iron, vitamin D, zinc, and comprehensive stool analysis.
How we address it
- Identify the specific retained reflexes and their impact.
- Integrate them with short daily movement patterns parents can lead at home, such as quadruped rocking, superman holds, cross-crawl patterning, bear crawls, and animal walks.
- Support vestibular, eye movement, and cerebellar development with brain-based rehabilitation and midline games.
- Offer extremely gentle chiropractic care for children to support nervous system regulation during integration, a working clinical hypothesis rather than established evidence.
- Address ties and fascia tension with your pediatric team.
- Reduce inflammatory, gut, and nutrient barriers that slow brain development.
- For adults, include startle dampening and regulation work, then retest regularly and progress as each reflex integrates.
Our brain is the master system, at any age. A stronger foundation lets every skill rise.
Book your Comprehensive Functional Medicine Eval/Neurological Exam today to discover what the contributing root causes are that are underlying your health concerns.