Reconceptualizing the newborn: from “feed-sleep-clean” to behavioral state, stress, and self-regulation surveillance as the foundation of neurodevelopment
Journal
Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México
ISSN
1665-1146
Publisher
Publicidad Permanyer, SLU
Date Issued
2026
Author(s)
Rendón-Macías, Mario Enrique
Type
text::journal::journal article
Abstract
Dear Editor: Clinical routines often portray a newborn as someone who “feeds, sleeps, and is cleaned”; the medical add-on is “and is not ill.” This minimalist lens has long guided discharge and follow-up; however, it misses the display of an organized behavioral repertoire in neonates-states, transitions, and stress/self-regulation signals-that support later cognitive and socio-emotional development. Synactive theory frames early life as a dynamic interplay of autonomic, motor, state, attentional/interactive, and self-regulatory subsystems; according to this view, autonomic and motor organization, together with the behavioral state system, are foundational, while self-regulation integrates across these and other domains to organize subsequent development. When we treat infants as behaviorally competent beings, we change what we do: bedside care naturally incorporates state surveillance, reading of stress and self-regulation signals, and caregiver-infant synchrony as early markers of neurodevelopmental health. Contemporary neurobiological work has supported this integrated view by showing how wakeful, autonomic, and affective arousal are intertwined dimensions of a common regulatory system. © The authors © Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México © Publicidad Permanyer.
License
Acceso Abierto
How to cite
Aldrete-Cortez, V., & Rendón-Macías, M. E. (2026). Reconceptualizing the newborn: from Ó?feed-sleep-cleanÓ� to behavioral state, stress, and self-regulation surveillance as the foundation of neurodevelopment. Boletín Médico del Hospital Infantil de México, 83(3). https://doi.org/10.24875/bmhim.25000153