infancy Flashcards
patterns of growth
- Cephalocaudal pattern- the sequence in which the earliest growth always occurs at the top—the head—with physical growth and differentiation of features gradually working
their way down from top to bottom
Proximodistal pattern - center to extremities
Height and Weight:
av height 20 inches
av weight 2.7- 3.2 kgs
weight loss initial days, later gain 5-6 ounces per week in the first month
doubled birth weight by 4 months, tripled by one year
Height grows 1 inch per month; doubled by age 1
slower growth rate at age 2- weight 12-14kgs (1/5th of their adult weight)
height is 32-35 inches (1/2 of their adult height)
the brain and lobes
Period of extensive brain development
- Shaken baby syndrome - brain swelling and haemorrhage
- Studying brain development
1.Frontal lobe: voluntary movement, thinking, personality, intentionality
2.Occipital lobe: vision
Temporal lobe: hearing, language processing, memory
3.Parietal lobe: spatial location, attention, motor control
4. Lateralization: specialization of function in one hemisphere; seen in newborns
brains development
neuron basic structure
changes in neuron during infancy-
myelination- prenatal plus carried out till adol
connectivity- expansion of dendrites creating neural pathways, strenthening or pruning
changes in brain regions
blooming and pruning of synapses in visual, auditory, prefrontal cortex- blooming around 1 year, pruning around middle to late adolescence
Myelination: visual pathway by 6 months, auditory pathway by 4-5 years
Different rates of development for different brain areas
Early Experience and the Brain:
Deprived environment – depressed brain activity
- Brain shows flexibility and resilience
Eg.: Michael Rehbein - seizures in left hemisphere
- Repeated exposure helps in building neuronal circuits
sleep
10-21 hours of sleep each day
diff in sleep time and patterns
by 1 month infants sleep longer at night, by 6 months adult like sleeping
Night waking: difficulty sleeping at and through night
- Cultural variations
REM Sleep:
- Rapid Eye Movement sleep vs. Non-REM Sleep
- Adulthood - 1/5th of sleep is REM; infancy - 1/2 of sleep is REM
- 3 months - REM sleep = 40% of total sleep
- Large amount of REM in infants - may provide self-stimulation
may promote brain development
- Do infants dream?
shared sleeping
Varies with culture: shared sleeping in India, China; crib or separate room in the US, Britain;
role of weaning
- Sleeping arrangement: firm support, side rails in crib
- Benefits of shared sleeping vs. risks
SIDS
infants stop breathing, usually during the night, and die suddenly without an apparent cause. SIDS remains the highest cause of infant death in the United States with nearly 3,000 infant deaths annually attributed to SIDS
risk 2-4 months of age
sids decrease when infants sleep on back
sids risk factors
- using pacifier
-low birth weight
siblings died of sids
sleep apnea
african american and eskimo
lower socioecon grps
exposed to cig smoke
breastfeeding
- Woman should not breastfeed when: HIV, active TB, medications
- No psychological differences between breastfed and bottle fed infants
- Research suggests benefits of breastfeeding over bottle-feeding; however, causality not
implied
studies on malnutrition
- Marasmus - severe protein-calorie deficiency; by 1 year of age
- Kwashiorkor - severe protein deficiency; between 1 and 3 years of age
- Malnutrition - physical, cognitive, social development compromised
Chronic malnutrition - poor performance on attention and memory tests (Kar et al., 2008) - Malnourished children in Bangladesh - standard nutritional care + psychosocial
intervention – reduced negative effects on 6 to 24 month old’s cognitive development (Nahar et al., 2008) - Nourishment during pregnancy + first two years of life – more active, involved, helpful,
less anxious, more happy
motor development theories
The Dynamic Systems View:
- Arnold Gesell’s view - emphasis on genes
- Esther Thelen’s view - dynamic systems theory
1. Perception + action
2. New motor behvavior development = development of nervous system + physical
development + motivation + environmental support
Eg.: walking, talking
Reflexes
Reflexes:
1.Rooting reflex- cheek stroked, mouth touched, turns to that side
2.Sucking reflex
3.Moro reflex-when startled, arches
its back, throws back its head, and flings out its arms and legs, Then rapidly closes its arms and legs.
4.Grasping reflex- when something touches the infant’s palms
Piaget’s Theory of Infant Development
schemas- actions or mental representations that organize knowledge.
Assimilation and Accommodation
assimilation- children use their existing schemes to deal with new informa-
tion or experiences.
accommodation- children adjust their schemes
to take new information and experiences into account.
organization- grouping of isolated behaviors and thoughts into a higher-order system.
Equilibrium & Stages of Development:
Disequilibrium - cognitive conflict
Search for equilibrium creates motivation to change
Equilibration - mechanism by which children shift from one stage of thought to next
