Medically reviewed by Jonathan B. Jassey, DO Key Takeaways The Moro reflex is a startle response in babies that makes their arms extend and retract. Newborns grow out of the Moro reflex within the ...

Since the day a baby is born, his or her body is pre-programmed with survival reflexes. One of these is the Moro reflex or the startle reflex, one of the numerous primitive reflexes of a newborn baby ...