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Chapter 4:. Infancy: Physical Development. Infant Physical Development:. Cephalocaudal Proximodistal Differentiation. Cephalocaudal Development:. Growth is more rapid in infancy than in any other period after birth.
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Chapter 4: Infancy: Physical Development
Infant Physical Development: • Cephalocaudal • Proximodistal • Differentiation
Cephalocaudal Development: • Growth is more rapid in infancy than in any other period after birth. • Growth proceeds from the upper part of the head to the lower parts of the body, called: Cephalocaudal • An infant has a strong, well coordinated suck but uncontrolled spindly legs. • Control of head, before control of arms; sit before crawling or walking.
Proximodistal Development: • Growth also proceeds from the trunk outward, called: Proximodistal • Infants gain control over their trunk and shoulders before they can gain control over their arms, hands, fingers. (and upper hips/legs before feet/toes)
Differentiation: • As children mature, their physical reactions become less global and more specific.
Growth Patterns in Height & Weight: • Infants double birth weight in: 5 months • Infants triple birth weight in:12 months • Growth in spurts (95% of the time they are not growing at all! So…….when someone says “he just grew overnight” they are likely correct!) • Boys generally reach ½ their adult height by their 2nd birthday, girls by 18 months.
Catch Up Growth: • If a child’s growth is slowed due to illness or malnutrition and they finally start to eat again, their rate of growth frequently accelerates to their genetically determined pattern of growth, called: Canalization
Infant Nutrition: • Either breast milk or formula up to 1st year & beyond • Solid food by 4-6 months • Finger foods by end of a year • Cow milk by 9-12 months. • No peanut butter until after 2nd year • No honey or corn syrup until after 1st year.
Breast Feeding: • 70% of women breast feed. • 2:5 continue after 6 mo, 1:5 breastfeed longer than 1 year. • Has health benefits for mom: lowers risk of breast CA, builds bone strength, helps shrink uterus after delivery. • Can transmit HIV and other diseases • Can be difficult!
What are the Benefits of Breast Feeding? • Child ill less often (stronger immune system) • As infant matures, milk composition changes to meet the infants needs. • Less prone diarrhea, constipation & stomachaches. • Make easier transition to solid food • Higher IQ • Resistance to allergies and asthma • Reduction in incidence of obesity • Reduction in the risk of SIDS
Know! • Breast fed and bottle fed babies are similar in physical and psychological development in industrial countries. (not so for developing nations, where bottle feeding is disastrous; because of contaminated water, weaker formula, etc.)
Development of Brain and Nervous System: • An infant is born with nearly 100 billion neurons • All the neurons we will ever have we are born with. • Myelin develops on the axon of the neuron as a child matures • As myelin progresses connections between neurons thicken. • Neurons develop by proliferation of dendrites and terminal buttons, and through myelination.
Growth Spurts of the Brain: • 1st Spurt: Between 4-5 month of prentatal development (due to formation of neurons) • 2nd Spurt: 25th wk of prenatal development to 2 years old (due to proliferation of dendrites and terminal buttons)
What is Selective Pruning? • As the baby grows, the neurons “prune” called Selective Pruning (use it or lose it!) • Neurons that are seldom stimulated are pruned. Birth 7 yrs 15 yrs
Motor Skill Development: What are motor skills? The activity of the muscles which leads to changes in posture, movement, and the coordination of movement with the senses. Motor Skills Consist of: • Lifting/holding the torso and head. • Control of the hands • Locomotion
1. Lifting/Holding the Torso and Head: Is adaptive in that it prevents suffocation. • 1 month: Infants can raise their heads • 2 mo: Infant lifts their chest while lying on their stomach • 3-6 mo: Infants can hold their head up themselves (with no support)
2. Control of Hands: Reflexive at first, then at 4-6 months infants grasp objects successfully a. Ulnar: (4-6 mo) Holding objects clumsily between their fingers and their palm. b. Pincer: (9-12 mo) Using the thumb and first finger to pick up tiny objects.
Watch a Baby Feed Themselves: • They can grasp an object well, but have a hard time putting it in their mouth. (Coordination of motor movement develops gradually)
3. Locomotion: • Movement from one place to another • Infants move their bodies in a sequence of steps (though children often skip steps!) Locomotion Milestones: a. Roll over both ways: 6 mo b. Sit up: 7 mo c. Crawl by: 8-9 mo d. Creeping: about 1 mo after crawling
3. Locomotion, cont. Milestones, cont. e. Standing by 8-9 mo (overlaps with creeping and crawling) f. Walk with support: 8-9 mo g. Pull to stand: 10-11 mo h. Walking by 12-15 mo i. Climb steps, kick ball, walk backward, jump by 2 years
When an Infant Begins to Walk they are Called a: Toddler Toddlers fall frequently because they are bow legged, inexperienced, and top heavy “like a bowling ball on toothpicks”
Know! • Maturation (Nature) and Experience (Nurture) play indispensable roles in motor development
Sensory/Perceptual Development: • Vision 20/50 by 6 mo • Peripheral vision like an adult by 6 mo • Infants prefer to look at the human face (at first the edges, then the inside)
Depth Perception: • Tells us whether objects are near or far. • By 6-8 months crawling infants refused to crawl over the “visual cliff”