Birthing Process Overview

Birthing Process

• The birth process involves three stages: the first stage of labour, the second stage of labour (delivery), and the third stage of labour (afterbirth).
• The first stage of labour is the longest stage, lasting an average of 6 to 12 hours, but can vary depending on factors like the mother's age and prior pregnancies.
• The first stage of labour begins with uterine contractions and the rupture of the amniotic sac (water breaking).
• Uterine contractions cause effacement (thinning) and dilation (opening) of the cervix, pushing the baby downward into the birth canal (vagina).
• The second stage of labour involves pushing the baby out and starts when the fetus' head and body begin moving through the birth canal.
• This stage lasts approximately 30 to 80 minutes.
• The third stage occurs when the placenta, umbilical cord, and other membranes are detached and expelled (afterbirth). This is the shortest stage, typically lasting only minutes.

Potential Problems at Birth

• Anoxia is a lack of oxygen to the brain which can lead to neurological damage or death.
• Premature birth refers to babies born before the 38th week of gestation and weighing less than 5.5 pounds.
• Low birth weight babies are categorized into two types: Preterm and Small for Date.
• Preterm babies are born more than 3 weeks before their due date.
• Small for date babies are underweight even if close to their due date, having experienced low growth as fetuses.

Physical Growth and Development in Infancy

• Cephalocaudal pattern: Early growth occurs at the top (head) with physical growth gradually progressing downward.

Brain Development

• Continued myelination and increased connectivity between neurons occur
• Brain regions experience blooming and pruning
• The visual cortex exhibits peak synaptic overproduction followed by gradual retraction
• Heredity and environment influence the timing and progression of brain development
• Myelination rates vary

Physical Growth and Development in Infancy

• Newborn infants typically sleep 16-18 hours per day
• Sleep duration reduces to 14 hours per day by 4 weeks
• Night waking is the most common infant sleep-related issue
• Excessive parental involvement in sleep-related interactions is linked to night waking
• Shared sleeping practices vary across cultures
• The American Academy of Pediatrics discourages shared sleeping
• Potential benefits of shared sleeping include promoting breastfeeding and quicker response to crying
• Bed-sharing increases the risk of sleep-related deaths, including sudden infant death syndrome.

Sleep/Wake States

• Regular sleep: closed eyes and regular respiration
• Irregular sleep: closed eyes, REM sleep, limb movement, and facial grimaces
• Drowsiness: infant is falling asleep or waking up, characterized by inactivity
• Alert inactivity: infant's eyes are bright and follow moving objects
• Waking activity: infant engages in diffuse motor activity, may become fussy
• Distress: intense crying and motor activity

Motor Development

• Infants develop motor skills through perceiving and acting
• Motor skills represent solutions to goals
• Motor development is an active process involving nature and nurture
• Development follows the cephalocaudal principle
• Motor behaviour is displayed in rhythmic patterns

Gross Motor Skills

• Involve large muscle activities
• Posture is a dynamic process linked to sensory information
• Learning to walk typically occurs around the first birthday
• Infants learn about safe surfaces and places for locomotion
• Milestones vary by as much as 2-4 months
• Experience can influence the onset of motor accomplishments
• Some infants don't follow the standard motor development sequence
• By 13-18 months, toddlers can pull toys and climb stairs
• By 18-24 months, toddlers can walk quickly, balance, walk backward, stand, and kick a ball
• Restricted motor activity doesn't impact reaching motor milestones at a normal age

Fine Motor Skills

• Involve finely tuned movements such as using spoons, buttoning shirts, reaching, and grasping
• The Palmer grasp involves grasping with the whole hand
• The pincer grip involves grasping with the thumb and forefinger

Sensory and Perceptual Development

• Vision: Newborn's vision is 20/240, improving to 20/40 by 6 months
• Infants show interest in human faces soon after birth
• Infants spend more time looking at their mother's face than a stranger's face
• A 2-month-old scans more of the face than a 1-month-old
• Colour vision develops at 4-8 weeks, with colour preference at 4 months
• Perceptual constancy: sensory stimulation changes, but physical world perception remains constant
• Size constancy: recognition that an object remains the same despite changes in retinal image
• Shape constancy: recognition that an object remains the same shape despite orientation changes
• Depth perception is studied using the "visual cliff"
• Infants between 6-12 months can distinguish depth

Language Milestones in Infancy

• Biological influences: Evolution of nervous system, vocal apparatus, and language-specific brain regions like Broca's area (language production) and Wernicke's area (language comprehension).
• Language Acquisition Device (LAD) theory: Children are biologically endowed to detect language features and rules.

Emotional and Personality Development

• Emotion: Feeling or affect triggered by significant events
• Biological influences: Certain brain regions, like the limbic system and amygdala, are involved in emotions.
• Environmental influences: Relationships and culture shape emotional experiences.
• Primary emotions: present in humans and animals
• Self-conscious emotions: require self-awareness and a sense of "me"
• Fear: One of the earliest emotions in babies
• Stranger anxiety: Showed by infants as fear and wariness toward strangers, appearing around 6 months and intensifying at 9 months
• Emotional regulation and coping are influenced by caregivers, who reduce stress hormones through soothing and swaddling
• Infants gradually learn to minimize emotional reactions
• Spoiling is not possible within the first year of life