Chapter Three & Four Flashcards
Physical Growth and Development in Infancy
birth to two
patterns of growth
cephalocaudal pattern and proximadistal pattern
cephalocaudal pattern
growth occurs from head to toe, skill development also
proximadistal pattern
growth occurs from the center of the body outward.
Height and weight
rapid growth in infancy (embryonic is most rapid)
average:20 inches long, 7 - 7 1/2 pounds
double their birth weight
by 4 months of age
triple their birth weight
by 12 months of age
grow about 1 inch per month
during the first year, reaching approximately 1 1/2 their birth length by their first birthday
growth slows 2nd year of life
by two years, have reached about 1/5th of their adult weight. At two they are about 32-35 inches, which is nearly 1/2 of their adult height.
early experience and the brain
development occurs extensively in utero and continues through infancy (up to the first 3 years). As infants grow, experiences in the environment help shape the brain’s neural connections; an enriching environment helps the brain make connections, a deprived environment does not.
newborns and sleep
newborns sleep on average 16-17 hours a day. by 4-6 months of age, they sleep longer at night and have moved closer to adult like sleep patterns. (6 hours sleeping through the night)
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
-leading cause of infant death in US, nearly 3,000 a year. (during 1st year of life)
risk of SIDS
is highest at 4-6 weeks of age
in 1992, the AAP recommended sleeping on the back,
to decrease risk of SIDS because sleeping on the stomach impairs the infants arousal from sleep and restricts your ability to swallow effectively.
Other risk factors of SIDS include:
low birth weight, sleep apnea, african american & eskimo children are more at risk, coming from lower socioeconomic status, being exposed to smoke, soft bedding, and having a sibling that died from SIDS.
breast vs. bottle feeding
benefits of breast feeding include lower risk of childhood obesity, fewer allergies, a reduction of several childhood illnesses, stronger bonds, reduced childhood cancer, reduces risk of SIDS, improves cognitive development and improves vision.
nutritional needs of the infant
breastmilk for 1-2 years of life whole milk up to age two, 1 food introduced at a time under the guidance of a pediatrician,
biggest nutritional problem for a child is
malnutrition, poor nutrition affects all aspects of development.
dynamic systems theory
infants assemble motor skills for perceiving and acting. To develop motor skills, infants must perceive something in the environment that motivates them to act and use their perceptions to fine-tune their movements. Motor skills represent solutions to the infant’s goals.
reflexes
built-in reactions to stimuli; genetically carried survival mechanisms - the movements of some reflexes eventually become incorporated into more complex, voluntary actions
nature and nurture working together
need practice to develop skills
gross motor skill
involves large-muscle activities
First year = control head, lifting head, sit without support, pull self up, all postural control leading to walking, practice is important, timing of these milestones varies as much as two to four months…. locomotion (setting event)
setting event
any event that impacts all four domains of development. leads to greater cognitive development, social development, emotional development and physical development
second year
become more motorically skilled and mobile - better at walking, steadier reaching, more purposeful, not fine tuned
fine motor skills
involves more finely-tuned movements 3-6 years of age, reaching and grasping (feeding yourself, holding a ball)
vision
by six months of age = 20/100 vision, by one year of age 20/20 vision.
hearing
during the last 2 months of pregnancy, fetus can hear and detect difference between mom and a strangers voice
touch and pain
respond to both in utero and at birth
smell
breast fed babies show preference for mom’s smell by 6 days old.
taste
sensitivity to taste might be present even before birth, babies show different facial expressions when they taste different solutions at 2 hours of age
-preference for: sweet (breastmilk is sweet)