Post Natal Development: Neonatal and Infancy Stage PDF

The Post Natal Development Neonatal and Infancy Stage NEONATAL AND INFANCY: The early stage of development Infancy Birth to 2 years. The time when the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother after 9 months. Postnatal Periods and Characteristics of Adjustment Period...

The Post Natal Development Neonatal and Infancy Stage NEONATAL AND INFANCY: The early stage of development Infancy Birth to 2 years. The time when the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother after 9 months. Postnatal Periods and Characteristics of Adjustment Period of Partunate: 0 to 30 minutes after birth. Fetal emergence from the mother’s body and last until the umbilical cord has been cut and tied. Characteristics: Independent Survival adjustments - Temperature changes, Breathing, Sucking, Swallowing and Elimination, Weight loss Period of Neonate 1. From the cutting & tying of the umbilical cord to approximately the end of the 2nd week of postnatal life. Characteristics Time of Radical Adjustments; tendency to be less strong & healthy than at birth.  Conditions Influencing Adjustment to Postnatal Life 1. Prenatal Environment (e.g. prolonged and intense maternal stress) may cause the infant to be tense and nervous. 2. Kind of Birth: ( a) Natural or Spontaneous Birth (b) Breech Birth (c) Transverse Birth (d) Instrument Birth (e) Caesarian Birth Difficult or Complicated Birth frequently results in temporary or permanent brain damage 3. Experiences Associated with Birth: (a) Mother’s medication during birth process (b) Ease or difficulty with which infants starts to breathe 4. Length of Gestation Period: (a) Premature b) Post mature 5. Conditions that affect Parental Attitudes:- - Level of preparation for parental duties - Childbirth experience - Infant’s postnatal adjustment - Mother’s physical condition after childbirth - Concern about expenses - Concern about survival of mother or child - Evidence of defects - Concern about normality - Infantile crying - Parental resentments. 6. Postnatal Care: - The amount of attention infants receive to ensure that their needs are met satisfactorily and relatively promptly; - The amount of stimulation they receive from the time of birth; - The degree of confidence their parents, especially mothers have in meeting their needs Physical Development of infants Size – average infant weighs 3.4kg & measure 19 ½ inch. in length Infantile Features: Muscles are soft, small & uncontrolled Bones are flexible because they are composed chiefly of cartilage and gristle Skin is soft and often blotchy (spotty) Flesh is firm and elastic  Infant Activities Certain physical and motor development of the infant aid in the development of the child. Neonates “sense” their environment. They gaze at interesting sights, react to sounds, tastes, and odors, and cry when poked by a needle for a blood test. Their greatest strength is a full set of useful survival reflexes. A reflex is an involuntary and automatic response to a stimulus,  Major Reflexes NAME RESPONSE SIGNIFICANCE Survival reflexes Repetitive inhalation Provides oxygen and Breathing reflex and expiration. expels carbon dioxide. Eye-blink reflex Closing or blinking the Protects the eyes from eyes bright light or foreign objects Rooting, Sucking & Sucking on objects Allows baby to take in Swallowing reflex placed (or taken) into nutrients the mouth Primitive reflexes Fanning and then curling the Its presence at birth Babinski reflex toes when the bottom of the and disappearance in foot is stroked. the first year are an indication of normal neurological development. Grasping reflex Curling of the fingers around Tenacious hold: Its objects when palm is presence at birth and stimulated later disappears after 3 – 4 months Moro or Startle Baby throws his or her arms Fear & Flight reflex and legs outward due to noise or sudden change in position Threats and Vulnerability of Infants Interference to normal growth or death in the first year of babyhood is usually caused by serious illness. E.g. respiratory complications, colds and digestive upsets and other prolonged illnesses. During the second year, because babies can move about more freely. Some babyhood accident such as blows on the head or cuts, may be serious enough to leave permanent scars or fatal. This critical period of fat-cell development Babies fed large amounts of carbohydrates are not only overweight but are subject to diabetes and heart diseases as they grow older. Bottle feeding Bottle-fed babies are more likely to be overfed than breast-fed babies. As a result of crowding during the prenatal period Multiple birth usually smaller and weaker than singletons Traditional Beliefs about Birth Difficult births are believed to result in “difficult children” Name calling Become dangerous if they cause the children embarrassment or sometimes even humiliation, if their friends think their names are “funny” Suckling Habits - Babies who suck for long periods show signs of tenseness. - They engage in nonnutritive sucking, - Have more sleep difficulties, - Are more restless. Sleeping Habits Crying, strenuous play with an adult, or noise can make babies tense and keep them from falling asleep. Habits of Elimination Trying to toilet train babies too early will make them uncooperative Delay results in habits of irregularity and lack of motivation on the baby’s part COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS MOTOR DEVELOPMENT Sensory- Perceptual Development Motor Development: From time of birth children begin to develop certain unlearned responses (Reflexes) to specific stimulus Birth to 1 month: - Simple Reflexes 1-4 months:- First habits and primary circular reactions; actions are repeated because the infant finds them pleasurable e.g. sucking finger 4-8 months:- Secondary circular reactions; development of coordination between vision and comprehension; intentional grasping for a desired object and differentiations between ends and means. 8-12 months:- Coordination of vision and touch; The action is directed towards a goal of specifics.  12-18 months:- reactions, novelty, and curiosity; young scientist 18-24 months:- internalization of schemes ( invention of new means through mental combination :–  Learning and Remembering Cognitive and Language Development of the Infant Newborn infants are often incapable of even the simplest form of learning however certain senses of cognition are developed Sensitivity to hunger is fully developed at birth and hunger contractions occur within the first day of life. Thirst also appears Sense organ for touch, pressure and temperature are well developed at birth  Hearing Hearing in the newborn is more fully developed than vision which is least developed at birth Hearing improves within the first three or four days after birth Can distinguish their mother’s voice from those of others This ability appears to develop in the womb before birth By 6 months, an infant’s hearing is comparable to that of an adult Sense of Smell The senses of smell, taste, and touch are also fairly well-developed at birth Infants can differentiate the smell of their mother from those of other people  Language Development From day one, infants are programmed into their linguistic environment Specific goal of acquiring language begins from Cooing, Babbling, to One - word utterances etc. By 18 months of age, children typically have vocabularies of 3 to 100 words Brain The brain contains about 100 billion neurons at birth. But the infant’s brain is immature, and connections between neurons (neural networks) need to be formed Vision will be permanently lost without visual experiences; and if the visual pathways do not develop. During infancy, the networks of neurons that are used become stronger and those that are not used disappear Childhood Stage Development : 2 – 12 years Pre- School 2 – 6 years Pre- School stage 2 – 6 years Is a critical period in the development of the human potential. A period of development of initiative. Pre-gang age:- Learning the foundations of social behavior. Exploratory age:- Want to know what their environment; how it works; how it feels; and how they can be part of it.  Questioning age. Imitative age:- Imitations of speech and actions of others. Creative age:- Creativity in their play more than any other time in their lives. Thought Development Children's thinking is rigid, limited to one aspect of a situation at a time, and strongly influenced by the way things appear at the moment Egocentric Animistic: belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities, such as thoughts, wishes, feelings, and intentions. Transductive Reasoning: Reasoning from one particular event to another particular event, instead of from general to particular or particular to general. Lack of Hierarchical Classification Emotional and Personality Development Child are born with some form of emotions that develop overtime. Common children’s emotions: Anger, Fear, Jealousy, Curiosity, Envy, Joy, Grief. Affection Social environment; Discipline; and Child- training methods influence the frequency and intensity of children’s emotions Example: 1. Jealousy is more common in small families. Envy, is more common in large families than in small families. 2. Anger: common causes - conflicts over playthings, thwarting of wishes, attacks from another child Influences on child’s anger or aggression  Children living in a home with lots of tension  Media: Violent TV shows, movies and video games. Expressions of anger: temper tantrums, crying, screaming, stamping, kicking, jumping up and down, striking. But it must be kept under control Emotional and Personality Development Cont. 3. Fear: A child’s response to fear is panic at first; and later running away and hiding, crying, and avoiding frightening situations. 4. Guilt: Children use their perceptual, motor, cognitive, and language skills to make things happen Factors that Influence guilt Punishment or responses for self-initiated activities Widespread disappointment. Children who are rejected by peers are at risk for depression.  Sense of guilt lowers a child’s self-esteem 5. Empathy: Parents who empathize with their children will help them to develop empathy. Childhood Violations Three common causes of wrongdoing during early childhood years: 1. Ignorance of the fact that their behavior is disapproved by the social group. 2. If children learn that willful disobedience of a minor sort will generally bring them more attention than a good behavior. 3. Boredom. Communication Factors that Influence efficient communication Listening to the radio and watching television People speaking slowly and distinctly to young children Using difficult, unfamiliar words and complex sentences confuse and discourage children More contacts with their peers Intelligence Type of discipline: Children who grow up in homes where discipline tends to be permissive, talk more than those whose parents are authoritarian and who believe that children should be seen but not heard. Communication cont. Birth Position: Firstborn children are encouraged to talk more than their later-born siblings Family Size: Only-children are encouraged to talk more than children from large families. In large families, the discipline is likely to be authoritarian and this prevents children from talking as much as they would like to. Socioeconomic Status: lower-class families tend to have less conversation among the family members and less encouragement for the child to talk Bilingualism Physical Development (2 – 6 years) Growth and Body changes:- Physical growth slows from the rapid development experienced during infancy Add 2 to 3 inches in height; about 2 kg in weight each year Both boys and girls thin out, and start to take on the appearance of a miniature adult Girls keep more of their baby fat; boys become more muscular. Loss of baby teeth; permanent teeth begin to emerge. Caution Tooth decay needs to be avoided as much as possible. Have children brush their teeth regularly, and/or brush their teeth for them Limit sugary foods;  Health and Fitness Issues (2 – 6 years) Factors that affect health and fitness Heredity Hormones: Growth hormone (GH), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) released by the pituitary gland are required for the development of all body tissues and brain respectively Nutrition: Rate of growth decreases, appetite also decreases. Ensure children get all the nutrients they need; malnutrition can adversely affect child development. Quality is more important than quantity. Children during this age are afraid to try new foods. They are described as picky eaters Health and Fitness Issues (2 – 6 years) cont. Deaths often result from accidents than of illness. Deaths are more frequent among boys than among girls. Most children experience cuts, bruises, infections, burns, broken bones, strained muscles. Parental or other adult supervision is important. Habit of overeating leads to obesity, a problem that will plague them throughout life. Physical Development: Growth and Body Changes (6-12 years) Children grow more slowly. Weigh (2 – 3 kg per year) Height (2 – 3 inches per year) Between ages 6 and 8, girls are slightly shorter and lighter than boys. By age 9, this trend reverses Motor Skills: ligaments are not fully connected, they are more flexible Muscles become bigger and stronger Lung capacity gives greater endurance and speed  Development of secondary sex characteristics: Girls: breast development; underarm and pubic hair growth Boys: Growth of underarm, chest, and pubic hair; growth of testicles and penis Age12, all baby teeth will be replaced by permanent teeth. Girls tend to lose their teeth earlier than boys. Health and Fitness Issues (6 – 12 years) cont. Factors that affect health and fitness 1. Children are much healthier; the most common illness is upper respiratory infection. 2. Accidents:- major cause of death or serious injury. Concerns about accident lead to timidity towards all physical activities and may spread to other areas of behavior. 3. Genetic background 4. Nutrition 5. Exercise Children are highly active, appropriate safety instructions are the most important way to prevent major injury or death Behavior Peer acceptance becomes increasingly important Upsets of body’s homeostasis makes children irritable, demanding and difficult to live with. Lying, cheating, and stealing are behaviors that this age children may try on Parents should deal with these behaviors privately Motor Development Age and experience are much more important determinants than gender. Children become more skilled in controlling their bodies. Specific skills developed depend on somewhat on the children’s environment.