Infant Developmental Needs

• Below are study notes with the subject matter that you provided

Developmental Needs of Infants

• Infancy spans from birth to around 18 months, marking the period between birth and the emergence of language
• Newborns are defined as being from birth to 2 weeks old

Newborn Developmental Landmarks

• Establishing respiration within normal limits is crucial
• Circulation to the lungs and away from the umbilical cord must be established
• Body temperature regulation must be established
• Exercising neonatal reflexes is important
• Adjusting to light and sound is necessary
• A sleep pattern must be established

Newborn Reflexes

• Rooting Reflex: When an infant's cheek is stroked, the baby turns their head towards the touch and opens their mouth for feeding
• Gripping Reflex: Babies grasp anything placed in their palm with enough strength to support their weight
• Toe Curling Reflex: Stroking the inner sole of a baby's foot results in curling toes, while stroking the outer sole causes toes to spread
• Stepping Reflex: Infants held upright with their feet on a surface lift their legs as if marching or stepping
• Sucking Reflex: Initiated by touching the roof of an infant's mouth, ensuring they can latch on to a bottle or breast
• Startle Reflex: Infants respond to sudden sounds or movements by throwing their arms and legs out and back

Infant (3 weeks to 18 months) Developmental Landmarks

• Infants learn self-regulated skills of locomotion, manipulation, and self-feeding with solid food
• Infants start to maintain a sleep-wake cycle
• Infants explore sound production in preparation for speech
• Infants establish initial sensorimotor schemes
• Infants establish attachment to primary caregivers
• Infants experience basic emotional states as a means of communication
• Infants establish an attitude of basic trust vs. mistrust

Infancy Characteristics

• Infancy is characterized by the most rapid development period in life
• Experiences and habits are crucial for lifelong significance in social orientations, personality styles, and intellectual predilections
• Parenting responsibilities are greatest during infancy
• Parents spend more than twice as much time with their infants as with kids in middle childhood

Major Infant Tasks

• Tasks include promoting brain development
• Tasks include facilitating attachment

Freud's Theory

• Infants are in the oral stage for around a year and a half
• Infants receive satisfaction and gratification primarily from sucking
• Babies frustrated at this stage are pessimistic, envious, suspicious, and sarcastic
• Babies whose urges were excessively satisfied are optimistic, gullible, and full of admiration

Erikson's Theory

• Erikson discusses trust vs. mistrust
• Trust develops through consistent, warm caregiving, meeting needs for food, comfort, security, and attention
• Babies learn to trust an environment if they are properly taken care of
• Children can learn to trust from caregiving

Other Theories

• Behaviorists believe early behavior patterns lay the foundation for later ones like a blank state
• Piaget discusses how babies learn about the environment through senses
• Infants attempt to repeat pleasurable events, like putting a fist in their mouth

Attachment

• Attachment in infancy through parenting involves eating

Eating: Breast vs. Bottle

• Breastfed infants are less likely to contract a number of illnesses
• Breastfed infants have a lower risk of SIDS
• Breastfed infants have better visual acuity and neurological development
• Breastfed infants have better long-term cardiovascular health
• Breastfed infants are less likely to develop obesity, asthma, eczema, diabetes, lymphoma, and childhood leukemia
• Breastfed infants are less likely to show language delays
• Breastfed infants score higher on cognitive tests at school age and into adulthood
• Breastfed infants have fewer cavities and are less likely to need braces
• Breastfed infants experience less constipation
• Mothers are more likely to return to pre-pregnancy weight
• Mothers enjoy quicker recovery after delivery with less bleeding
• Mothers are less likely to develop osteoporosis, or ovarian & breast cancer

Weaning

• Grasping a spoon easily, enjoying playing with food, and drinking more than a quart of formula daily are indicators
• Adding solid food to a baby's diet around 4-6 months

Crying

• Infant crying peaks at approximately 6 weeks postpartum
• A baby who cries a lot is a problem for the parent and not the child
• The effects of infant crying are greater on fathers than on mothers
• Infant irritability, crying, or colic leads to parental feelings of depression, helplessness, anger, exhaustion, and rejection

Parental Disturbance Due to Crying

• Parents are mostly disturbed by the prolonged length of the infants' cry bouts
• Parents are mostly disturbed by the relatively high intensity of the crying
• Parents are mostly disturbed by the resistance of the crying to consoling maneuvers
• The ‘unsoothability' of the crying is the most salient feature, which makes the parents feel out of control

Parenting Methods

• Infant-demand parenting, called ‘Proximal Care', is characterized by extensive infant holding, in contrast to the common Western practice of putting babies down
• Proximal care parents fed their babies more often and held them for an average of 15-16 hours per 24 hours
• The traditional method had 50% less contact with babies both when settled and when crying

Colic

• Colic generally occurs after 5-6 weeks of life
• Colic is categorized as crying for more than 3 hours, for more than 3 days a week, for more than three weeks
• Up to 40% of infants have colic
• Colic generally goes away after about 3 months
• Babies are twice as likely to get colic if the mother smoked during pregnancy

Sleeping

• Most infants frequently awake during the night
• Establishing predictable routines is important
• Classical conditioning involves stroking the head while falling asleep
• Ferber method involves teaching babies to soothe themselves to sleep, only working when the baby is physically or emotionally ready, usually around 4 to 6 months
• The Infant-demand method is when a parent comforts and holds the baby until the baby falls asleep

SIDS

• The sudden death of an infant younger than 1 year that remains unexplained after a thorough investigation
• Most cases occur at 2 to 5 months of age
• Babies are regarded as having had good health when death occurred
• The incidence of SIDS today in the US is between 2 and 3 per 1000 births, higher for blacks than whites, and for males than females

Effects on Parents

• Infants change who parents are and how parents define themselves
• Infants forever alter the sleeping, eating, and working habits of their parents bery coming into existence
• Mothers who regard their infants as being difficult are less likely to pay attention or respond to their infants' overtures, fostering temperamental difficulties and cognitive shortcomings

Developmental Needs of Toddlers

• Toddlerhood is the period between 18 months and 36 months
• Developing impulse control and self-regulated skills is needed
• Establishing early speech patterns is needed
• Learning to control the elimination of body wastes is needed
• Toddlers need autonomy and independence
• Toddlers demonstrate empathy, morality, and standards
• Toddlers are developing gender identity and gender-role identification
• Toddlers establish close relationships

Freud's Theory of Toddlers

• Centers on the anal stage happening at one and a half years old
• With toilet training comes the conflict between the pleasure from bodily functions
• If parents are too lenient and the child manages to derive pleasure and success from this expulsion, it results in an anal expulsive character who is generally messy, disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant
• If the child doesn't want to poop, the child can develop into an anal-retentive character who is neat, precise, orderly, careful, withholding, and passive aggressive

Other Toddler Theories

• Freud: Proper toilet training permanently affects individual attitudes toward possession and authority
• Erikson: Toddlers develop a greater sense of self and independence and can express new emotions of pride, embarrassment, and shame
• Piaget: This marks the end of the sensorimotor stage and the beginning of the preoperational stage, where increased skills enable toddlers to explore more effectively

Parenting Toddlers: Toilet Training

• Toilet training is a major developmental task
• Training usually begins between 18 and 30 months and is typically completed by 36 months
• Establishing a sense of autonomy is important at this stage
• Parents need to balance firmness with flexibility
• Positive reinforcement is often the most successful route is often the most successful route for teaching toilet training

Impulse Control

• From 12-18 months, young toddlers achieve control to initiate, maintain, and terminate physical acts based on social demands
• Initial self-monitoring, self-inhibition of previously prohibited behavior, and compliance appear
• Emotion regulation is a major task, including abilities to wait, self-comfort, resist temptation, defer gratification, and follow rules and directions
• From 24-36 months, older toddlers achieve the ability to comply with requests, delay specific activities, and monitor behavior according to caregiver expectations
• Children will shake their heads no and refrain from touching the dangerous object even when their caregivers are out of sight
• Achieving self-control involves major growth in self-awareness, knowledge of social standards, recall memory, and the ability to delay or inhibit responding

Noncompliance and Temper Tantrums

• Gesell firmly established the stereotype of the “terrible twos"
• Earlier studies reveal a peak of resistant and negativistic behaviors when a child is around 2 years old, with a steady decline until 4 years old
• In response to parental requests for cooperation, child compliance increases from toddler to preschool years.
• Girls are more cooperative and responsive to parents' commands
• Toddler boys are more likely than girls to approach injury-risk hazards and less obedient to their parents' redirections
• Passive noncompliance and direct defiance are typical of younger toddlers
• Bargaining and negotiation are strategies of older toddlers and preschool children
• Parents of young toddlers use physical guidance more, and parents of older, more verbal children use verbal suggestion, reasoning, and counter negotiation more
• Power assertive techniques generate some fear and submission to authority, yet are less effective because they do not create a cooperative attitude
• Temper tantrums are other forms of resistant noncompliance often seen in toddlers, reflecting the child's inner turmoil and struggle between dependence and independence

Birth of a Sibling

• Birth of a sibling happens during the toddler stage for many children
• Parents need to keep in mind the toddler's feelings and thoughts
• Reassure and love toddlers

Safety Issues

• Knowlege of CPR is key
• Adult supervision is necessary and leaving a child unattended in a car is against the law
• Childproof the house with toys, bed, food, medicine, etc
• Practice travel safety with a car seat, water, sun, and sunscreen

Developmental Needs of Preschoolers

• Early childhood is the period in a person's life between the ages of 3 and 6.
• Children are known as preschoolers
• Physical development includes a slower rate of growth in weight and height, a small appetite, the use of a preferred hand, the eruption of all primary teeth, mastered major motor skills, and high energy levels
• Psychosocial development includes expanding awareness of self, others, and things, independence and self-control, and initiative vs. guilt
• Cognitive development includes expanding vocabulary, improving memory, building information about the world, and preoccupation with classification and grouping things

Preschool Theories

• Freud argues the phallic stage includes sexual feeling with the opposite sex parent
• Erikson states children develop the ability to plan and direct self-initiated activity
• Piaget states children in the preoperational stage have broadened their way of thinking from the sensorimotor stage, have an unsophisticated way of thinking, have problems with reasoning, and are still egocentric

Parenting Preschoolers: Health and Safety Issues

• Children typically have a small appetite and will not eat what appears to be a normal amount of food at meals so a Vitamin/mineral supplement is helpful
• Finger foods are eaten more readily, and eating problems can develop at this time
• Immunizations should be completed prior to school entrance
• Children may contract communicable diseases because of an immature immune system and lack of adequate antibodies
• Accidental injury is the leading cause of death, often related to automobile accidents
• Many accidental injuries occur near or in the home
• Childproofing the home is necessary
• CPR certification helps parents

Promoting Structure/Nurturance

• Affirm developmental tasks, provide safety, protection, and love, encourage exploration and expressiveness, give clear directions, and enforce simple rules

Beginning Socialization

• Promote prosocial and moral behaviors, including empathy and deflecting aggression
• Delaying gratification of immediate needs reflect continued development of self-control
• Encourage positive sex-role development, including gender identity, and the role of toys and play
• Teach about sexuality, dying, and death

Facilitating Cognitive Development

• Understanding Preoperational-Intuitive Stage Characteristics
• Provide a wide variety of experiences
• Help young children acquire accurate information

Facilitating Emotional Development

• Preschoolers become increasingly accurate at understanding emotions, especially anger and distress
• A preschoolers most common form of emotional upset is crying
• Parents should give practical, problem-solving suggestions and encourage children to take action with problems
• Children in this stage are able to show but can hide their feelings
• Temperament influences emotional reactions, so parents should encourage children to express and learn to deal with feelings of sadness and distress appropriately
• Preschoolers often develop fears

Child Care

• Advantages of child care with relatives include a small adult/child ratio and a more convenient and flexible schedule
• Child Care Centers can be subjected to national accreditation or state licensed and must meet local and state requirements in terms of health, safety, and other regulation as well as allows children to socialize
• Preschool Programs have significant educational components, numerous activities, and equipment

School-Age Children

• School age beings with entrance into school at about 6 years and extends until puberty, usually near the end of the 12th year
• School-age children are increasingly independent, sensitive to criticism, enjoy privacy, are increasingly critical of adults, and are increasingly peer-oriented
• Physically, they enjoy group activities, have high energy levels, and permanent teeth start appearing
• Socially: Still prefer activities with same-sex peers, enjoy light competition, and develop friendships

Theories: School Age

• Piaget's Concrete operational stage cognitive development is more advanced than previous pre-operational stage
• Children are more sophisticated and think in very concrete, solid ways.
• They tend to see the world as black and white, right or wrong, and are not yet able to realize gray areas and the circumstances affect the understanding of things.
• Erikson: Children are interested in tasks that have meaning, enjoy contributing to home, school, playground, and parents' role is encouraging children's effort, so they feel good about their contributions
• Understanding Industry vs. Inferiority: via helping children acquire a mastery of academic and social skills appropriate to this developmental stage and encouraging a healthy attitude about work, and learning about being evaluated
• Social learning helps with ecological theory

Parenting School-Age Children

• Promote healthy nutrition and there is concern today about obesity related to diet and lack of sufficient exercise
• Provide Structure and Nurturance, having a a greater emphasis on structure, Expecting that structure will become more internalized, with parents remembering to use nurturance to offset the negative aspects of structure
• Providing Psychological support is a major aspect of nurturance
• Encouraging school-age children also are being expected to learn how to make decisions instead of acting on impulse and parents begin to lessen constancy of supervision

Promoting Peer Relations

• Help children learn to get along with others in groups, help children deal with rejection issues
• Conformity is important and children gravitate to other children who are similar
• They choose friends similar in race, sex, and achievement
• They reject those that are different and don't follow social norms could face issues with bullying

Promoting Cognitive Skills

• Assist children in making use of data acquired in understanding the world
• Accept the illogical nature of children's thought at times

Helping Children Adjust to School

• Help children deal with peer groups
• Assist children in acquiring basic academic skills
• Work with teachers and others to help children succeed
• Help children learn about their school environment
• Assist children with homework and other projects
• Address Bullying with wide media attention, which can occur if children are abused or watch violence

Other Teaching Moments

• Teach About Sexuality through the school system and prepare children to approach puberty
• Media Use impacts children through positive educational programs and negative impacts with sleep, attention span, aggression, and sexual attitude and behavior
• Enforce Rules about media use by monitoring media, turning it off during mealtime, and setting a limit on the amount of devices a child can have, and modeling appropriate media use

Cyberbullying

• Cyberbullying is on the rise and occurs when a victim experiences harassment, intimidation, humiliation, and tormenting via the internet
• Important to form a strong relationship with the child so they can come forward
• Model proper social media presence and be comfortable approaching professionals

Behavior Problems

• Parents are more likely to attend to annoying behavior than they are to desirable behavior
• Giving special attention to children when they behave badly is bad advice
• Child-rearing practices are behind many more American children running amuck

Adolescent Development

• Adolescence is a transition stage between childhood and adulthood occurring between ages 13 and 18
• Puberty is a significant physical landmark of adolescence
• This stage is described as one of storm and stress for the teen, the parents, and the family systems characterized by the increasing autonomy of the adolescent away from the family of origin
• Characteristic Landmarks include rapid physical and psychological changes, dramatic changes in body proportions, sexual maturation, and personality, personal emancipation into full maturity and responsibility for oneself, and immature aspects of the adolescent mind

Adolescent Rebellion

• Rebellion is a stereotype that includes emotional turmoil, conflict within the family, and alienation from adult society
• Stereoypes include: Reckless behavior and rejection of adult values

Mental Health

• Mental health issues for adolescents include anxiety, depression and mood swings, and loneliness

Romantic Relationships

• 25% of 12-year-olds report having had a romantic relationship in the past 18 months
• Over 70% of adolescents have had at least one romantic relationship before 18 years old
• For 16-year-olds, the median length of a romantic relationship is 20.5 months

Adolescent Theories

• Erikson: Developing an ego identity, Moving toward independence, moving toward more mature relationships with family members, beginning to think about future job or college choices, developing a romantic involvement, and manage sexuality in a responsible way

Parenting Adolescents

• Parenting styles and behaviors must adapt as adolescents adapt to family system changes
• Raising adolescents is challenged by: Problems in communication, Balancing an authoritarian/authoritative/permissive approach, Gradually relinquishing control, and Reaching fair, collaborative decisions

Meeting the Needs of Adolescents

• Enforce Health and Safety Issues, including substance abuse, suicide, and pregnancy/STDs
• Provide Structure and Nurturance
• Parent-child relationships must be renegotiated with a continued need for Structure
• It is important to adapt as the teen grows older and shows greater responsibility
• Promote Teen's Individuation process
• It is important to help Teens Handle Puberty and providing a description of what occurs for boys and girls and encourage healthy support sex education

Buehler (2020)

• Article discusses “ family processes” and child and youth development, we are focusing on parenting behavior among these family processes discussed in this review
• Highlights: the new advances made in research in the past decade, the parenting behaviors that are identified as strengths in families promoting child development and the various child outcomes affected by parenting, and the limitations of current research that lead to directions of future research

Emerging Adulthood

• Jeff Arnett (2000) defines the period between ages 18 to 25 as “emerging adulthood"
• This is derived from the increasing trend that today's young adults are different from adolescent yet are also different from traditional young adults
• Characteristics during this stage are age of continued identity exploration and age of instability with residential change, as well as a self-focused age with No commitment to spouse or parenting responsibility but focusing on self in terms of career
• This is a different stage from the one that adolescents when having to obey parents' rule in parents' house
• This is an age feeling in-between of not feeling like teens or adults and an age of possibilities where individuals can freely explore their career, relationships, and learning experience

Young Adult Relationships

• Forming and maintaining romantic relationships from an evolutionary perspective
• Maintaining Attention, estimation, memory, and judgement
• Meeting three basic challenges, which are finding a romantic partner where one should consider physical attractiveness, avoiding the temptation of attractive relationship alternatives, and warding off romantic rivals

Empirical Studies: Parental Influence on Emerging Adults' Romantic Relationships

• Parental conflict
• Parental divorce
• Parenting on emerging adults
• Relationship timing
• Social/Relational competence
• Behavioral interaction

Parenting Young Adults

• Transform the parent-child relationship into a more balanced, adult-like format
• Parental involvement often continues for years into this stage but in an altered manner
• Provide Financial support and Continued emotional support
• Practice The fine art of letting go
• Avoid The PermaParent trap

Caring for Aging Parents

• Maintaining relationships as more adult parents and relatives are living longer but with more chronic illnesses
• More adult children provide care for elderly parents in ethnic minorities than white families

Characteristics of Adult caregivers

• Most adult-child caregivers are women who are middle-aged, married, parents themselves, and work full-time
• Adult-children caregivers provide eldercare or emotional support, services, and financial assistance through phone calls, hygiene assistance, chauffeuring for errands, housekeeping tasks, meal preparation, and paying bills
• Eldercare is characterized by the significant role reversal that usually takes place over time
• Caregiver burnout is often encountered as a hazard to providing eldercare and can be minimized in several ways, such as men helping out, community programs, or government support