In a noisy room a sleeping newborn initially startles and exhibits rapid movements; however, the baby soon goes back to sleep. W
hat is the most appropriate nursing action in response to this behavior? 1. Documenting an intact reflex.2. Assessing the infant's vital signs.3. Testing the infant's ability to hear.4. Stimulating the infant's respirations.
Reflex action may be defined as the sudden change in the action against the stimulation. This might cause the muscle contraction and the movement of the particular body parts.
The first response describe in the question is the startle reflex that might result in the decrease in the stimulus due to its repetition. Initially, the response is rapid but later decreases. This is known as habituation and quite important to understand the behavior of the infant.
The primary response in this case by nurse should be observing the reflection of the startle reflexes that is is the brainstem reflectory reaction, that shows the rapid and random moments, when there is repetitive stimulus present.
So, the correct response would be documenting the intact reflexes. Habituation is known as the lowering in response, it is not necessary as it is noisy room and infants response is on the noise.
