Your newborn may look pretty helpless, but she actually is born with ways to get what she needs to thrive — mainly food and comfort. That’s where the rooting reflex comes in. It’s nature’s way of giving your baby the moves to locate your breast and start nursing.
Like with other newborn reflexes, your baby isn’t controlling her movements. Instead, the rooting reflex and all the others are built-in responses showing that your baby’s brain and nervous system are working well.
What is the rooting reflex?
Think of the rooting reflex as a baby’s tracking device for food. A gentle stroke on your newborn’s cheek near her mouth causes her to turn her head in the direction of the touch. She’ll open her mouth, ready to suck at a breast or on a bottle.
Usually, of course, the rooting reflex means your baby is hungry, especially if it's accompanied by other “feed me” cues, including sucking on her hand or your shirt, sucking on her lip or tongue, sticking her tongue out, licking her lips or making lip-smacking sounds, opening her mouth and even fussiness. Any or all of those signs of hunger can mean it's time to start breastfeeding your baby or giving her a bottle.
But rooting doesn't always signal that a baby needs to be fed. While some newborns only root when they’re hungry, some do it when they’re gassyand others root for no apparent reason at all.
If your baby is doing lots of rooting but is getting the nourishment she needs, she may just want to suck on something in between meals. Check with your pediatrician about offering her a pacifier to satisfy those sucking urges about three or four weeks after your baby has gotten the hang of breastfeeding.
Read This Next
How long does the rooting reflex last?
Like the sucking reflex, the rooting reflex develops when your little one is still a baby-to-be in utero, usually by around 32 to 36 weeks of pregnancy, give or take (though it might be earlier). Although your baby is born with the rooting reflex, it may take longer to actually elicit the response for the first few days. But it gets stronger in the first week or so.
The rooting reflex usually goes away when your baby is about 3 or 4 months old. As she gets older and develops more skills, your little one is able to control her movements better so they’re not as jerky or involuntary.
Her thinking skills develop too, so there’s more connection between thought and action (“Let me take a swipe at that ball!”). That’s the reason these newborn reflexes, including the rooting reflex, disappear.
What triggers the rooting reflex?
At your baby’s first checkup (as well as at her other early well visits), the doctor will test these newborn reflexes, including the rooting reflex. Why? These twitchy responses are signs that your baby’s nervous system is developing exactly as it should.
Rooting reflex triggers are pretty simple: Stroke your baby’s cheek near the corner of her mouth, and she’ll turn her head, open her mouth, and thrust out her tongue or make sucking noises. What she’s really looking for is a source of food — your breast or a bottle.
You can also elicit the rooting reflex yourself when you’re nursing. If your baby turns away, gently touch the side of the cheek nearest to you. She’ll turn back to your breast. Then you can tickle your baby’s lips with your nipple to get her to open wide and latch on.
What’s the difference between the rooting reflex and the sucking reflex?
While they're both feeding cues and come into play when you breastfeed or bottle-feed, the rooting reflex and the sucking reflex are different. The rooting reflex helps your baby find the milk and the sucking reflex helps her get the milk into her body.
The way they’re triggered is different too. Sometimes all you have to do to trigger the rooting reflex is stroke the corner of your baby's mouth or her cheek with your finger. To trigger the sucking reflex, your finger or nipple has to touch the roof of your little one's mouth.
Premature and full-term babies also sometimes have less developed sucking reflexes than rooting reflexes because learning to suck, swallow and breathe is a pretty complex maneuver — whereas rooting tends to be simpler to master. All babies learn how to both root and suck eventually, though.
When to call the doctor
Doctors are usually the ones to discover if a reflex is missing, or seems weak in some way, since checking baby reflexes are part of the hospital’s newborn screening tests.
That said, you can look for the rooting reflex yourself (and you probably have, during breastfeeding). Just remember that if you don’t get the response you’re looking for, your baby may be fussy or tired, so try again later or on another day.
But be on the lookout for these signs and mention them to your pediatrician:
If the rooting reflex goes away before 3 or 4 months and then comes back
If baby's rooting behaviors when she’s awake last beyond 6 months
Both could be signs of developmental delays or other neurological issues, or may be nothing at all. But it’s better to know for sure so you can get the proper diagnosis and care sooner rather than later if there is a problem.
In the meantime, enjoy watching all your baby's reflexes and jerky gestures. Soon those movements will become smoother and more coordinated, and she’ll show off her smarts in many different yet adorable ways.
Yes 
No 
Trending On What to Expect
