newborn Flashcards
what does APGAR scale stand for?
APGAR scale measures healthiness of newborns.
Appearance (skin color)
Pulse (heart)
Grimace (reflexes)
Activity (muscle tone)
Respiration (breathing)
when is the APGAR scale administered?
1-5 mins after birth
what are the changes after birth?
- temperature (warmer to cooler)
- space (limited to free)
- light (dim to bright)
- direction (head down to head up)
- vestibular motion (still to move around)
what weight is counted as LBW (low birth weight) in newborns?
below 2.47kg / 5.5 lbs
when are babies counted as premies?
when they are born more than 3 weeks before full-term (38 wks), so before 35 weeks
what is 1 bad outcome that LBW predicts in a newborn?
- cognitive impairments
- hyperactivity/distractibility
- difficulty interacting w peers
- poor school performance
true or false: massaging and flexing infant’s arms and legs increases their weight gain much more than those without massage.
true
it is a tactile simulation to intervene LBW.
define lanugo.
soft, fine hair covering the fetus’s body
helps to regulate body temperature
define vernix.
waxy substance covering infant’s body
helps protect the delicate skin from the amniotic fluid and scratching
gives newborns slimy appearance
what is 1 reason why some newborns are born with acne?
mother’s hormones
how can infants be born with cone-shaped heads?
their skulls are made of separate bone plates that are not fully fused at birth, to enable smooth transition through birth canal
list the 4 characteristics of newborn reflexes.
inborn (present at birth, not learned)
automatic (involuntary)
responsive (in response to stimuli)
shared (common to all newborns)
the reflexes sucking and rooting (turns head to simulation) is to serve which function of a newborn?
feeding
what is the moro reflex in newborns?
- The Moro reflex (aka startle reflex) is a normal reflex for an infant when he or she is startled or feels like they are falling.
- The infant will have a startled look and the arms will fling out sideways with the palms up and the thumbs flexed.
- Absence of the Moro reflex in newborn infants is abnormal and may indicate an injury or disease.
what is the babinski/plantar effect?
newborns toes fan out and curl
occurs after the sole of the foot has been firmly stroked
within which months will the below refelxes disappear?
- grasping
- moro
- babinski
- grasping: 3-4 mths
- moro: 4-6 mths
- babinski: 8-12 mths
what are the 2 states of sleep infants experience daily?
- quiet sleep
- active sleep
each sleep typically lasts for 8h a day
what are the 2 states of wakefulness infants experience daily?
- active awake
- alert awake
each state typically lasts for 2.5h a day
how many hours of drowsing do newborns typically experience in a day?
1
how many hours of crying do newborns typically experience in a day?
2
true or false: newborns differ in the stability of the proportion of time spent in various stages.
*typical newborn day:
crying - 2h
drowsing - 1h
alert awake - 2.5h
active awake - 2.5h
quiet sleep - 8h
active sleep - 8h
*discontinuous
true.
stability increases w age. premature babies have more difficulty regulating their stares.
describe REM sleep in babies.
aka active sleep
REM - rapid eye movement sleep involves:
- body movements
- irregular heart rate and breathing
- distinct brain activity
describe non-REM sleep in babies.
aka quiet sleep
- deep sleep
- regular brain waves
- lacks body and eye movements
true or false: newborns spend half their time in REM sleep and this time increases with age.
false. decreases w age.
why do newborns spend so much time in REM sleep?
limited visual input due to too much sleep, REM compensates for it and helps visual develop
newborns spend so much time in REM sleep beacuse of limited visual input due to too much sleep, REM compensates for it and helps visual develop.
what study supports this?
checkerboard study shows that infants who experience more visual stimulation while awake go into REM sleep less often
why do babies cry?
motivate adults to help and take care of them
what 2 physiological responses occur in adults when babies cry?
increase in heart rate
increase in blood pressure
fill in the blanks:
babies’ crying becomes voluntary at ___ weeks and its peak period is the first ___ months.
6; 3
why do babies cry less in less industrialised countries?
co-sleeping, carried more = less crying
out of the 5 human senses, which one is the most poorly developed in newborns?
vision
are newborns’ 5 senses better or worse than those of adults’?
worse
what does the study by DeSnoo show?
hint: newborns’ discrimination and preferences
fetuses and newborns can taste and have a preference for sweetness
describe the study that shows that taste develops and preferences are acquired before birth, during the prenatal period.
hint: carrot juice
Mennella, Jagnow & Beauchamp (2001).
IVs:
experimental group - drank carrot juice daily
control group - drank water
DV: how much food containing carrot juice do the babies eat? (tested at 5 months of age)
result: babies exposed to carrot juice daily during the prenatal period ate more than those in the control group.
therefore taste and preferences acquired before birth.
what does the study by MarFarlene (1975) say about newborn’s ability to recognise familiar smells?
IV: own vs another mother’s breast pad
DV: head-turning toward breast pad (rooting reflex)
result:
2-day-olds - no pref
6-day-olds - prefer own mother’s smell
therefore newborns can recognise familiar smells.
true of false: sound outside is limited to the fetus inside the womb
false. alot of sound outside can be heard, even from deep inside the womb.
when does the inner ear becomes well-developed (not fully) enabling the fetus to hear?
24 wks
- many basic structures in place and functioning
- not fully developed, ongoing processes of refinement, differentiation, and maturation that continue throughout the remainder of gestation and after birth
- necessary for the inner ear to achieve its full functionality and integration with the auditory and vestibular systems
describe the study to support the hypothesis that fetuses can hear.
Lecanuet et al. (1995)
step 1: “babi babi babi” -> fetal heart rate slows -> repeat until heart rate no longer slows (bored)
step 2: “biba biba biba” -> fetal heart rate slows again -> fetus can tell that sound is different this time
do babies prefer women’s voices or men’s?
women’s
babies start learning language in the _____.
womb
cat in the hat (decasper & spence, 1986) study shows that fetuses can not just ____, they can also ______.
hear; learn
fill in the blanks:
what happened in the cat in the hat study by decasper and ________?
pregnant moms read story out loud during last ___ wks of pregnancy.
newborns tested with ______ procedure while hearing the same/diff story.
newborns who heard the story before _______ it, those who hadn’t showed no preference.
spence
6
sucking
preferred
- what is echo suppression?
- do babies have it?
- tune out unnecessary sounds and focus on the main sound heard, eg. person speaking
- yes, but not as developed as adults’
what is the test for hearing in babies called?
auditory localisation
can babies hear very soft sounds?
no
do learning begin before or after birth?
before
the latin term “tabula rasa” means?
blank slate
a baby is like a clean piece of paper and what they become is shaped by what is written on it
what does epigenetics study?
how environmental factors affect gene expression that shapes development from prenatal stage to adulthood
what do epigenetics explain?
1. individual differences
2. trisomy 21
3. epileptic seizures
- individual differences
give 1 example of epigenetics at work.
- smoking during pregnancy exposes fetus to teratogens, causing asthma and obesity after birth
- children who grow up in abusive home environments have poorer emotion regulation and increased stress
can epigenetic changes be reversed?
yes, potentially restoring normal gene expression patterns.
vary with age
targetted interventions and lifestyle changes can alter epigenetic marks (diet, exercise)
