1. Physical Development in Infancy

2. Physical Growth and Development In Infancy
Cephalocaudal & Proximodistal Patterns
Cephalocaudal sequence in which greatest growth occurs at top (head), working its way to neck, shoulders, middle truck, so on…
Proximodistal sequence in which growth starts at center of body & moves toward extremities

3. Development inside the womb and out
Cepahalocaudal development – head to toe
Proximodistal development – inside out

4. Physical development
Principle of hierarchical integration – simple skills must be met before more complex skills can be achieved
i.e., learning how to hold pencil precedes writing
Principle of independent systems – different rates of growth within the body
i.e., height and weight can be independent of each other

5. Height and Weight
Infants double their birthweight by four months of age, tripled it by their first birthday, & grow an inch a month during their first year
By 2 years of age, infants weigh approximately 26 to 32 pounds & have reached about one-half of their adult height

9. The Brain Child is born with 100 billion nerve cells
Neuron - nerve cell that processes information at cellular level.
Dendrites receive information from other neurons, muscle or glands
Axon transmits information
Myelin sheath speeds information transmission
Axon ends are the terminal buttons of the neuron

10. The Brain’s Development
Between 10 and 26 weeks, the neuron connections are generated at 250,000 per minute
Following this cells move to appropriate locations in brain in process called migration
Finally, they are ready for collecting & processing information, known as cell elaboration

11. Early Experience and the Brain
Scientific research on animals & humans who have suffered brain damage, tells us that brain produces trillions of cells in early development which cannot possibly be used
Animals reared in richly-stimulated environments have more neuronal connections than those reared in restricted environments
Implication is children who are given a rich environment very early on, will develop greater neuronal connections for later use There is some skepticism of this belief

12. Marion Diamond’s research
Maturation-genetic map – cannot alter this
However, this does not mean that environment cannot affect anything

13. Marion Diamond
Demonstrated that an enriched environment will increase cell weight and add to the number of dendrites on the neuron
An impoverished environment decreases cell weight, may lead to a loss of cells and the number of dendrites will be reduced (synaptic pruning)

14. Neural plasticity and critical periods
If the neural growth is inhibited, then development may not be achieved
Does not affect the person with sensitive periods, but critical periods it does

15. Infant States
States of consciousness or levels of awareness that characterize individuals. Some states are:
REM (rapid eye movement) sleep
active sleep without REM
indeterminate sleep
drowsy
inactive alert
active awake
crying

16. Nutrition
Growing research supports nutrition programs for infants which will supply needed nutrients for proper physical, cognitive & emotional development
Breast/Bottle Feeding - While most experts believe that breast-feeding is nutritional better for infant presents problems for working mom
Malnutrition - Infants who are malnourished in their first year may suffer from marasmus wasting away of body tissues caused by severe protein-calorie deficiency leads to severe underdevelopment of child’s cognitive, physical & emotional growth

17. Motor Development Gross and Fine Motor Skills
Skills infant learns through muscle control
Gross skills utilize large muscles for larger motor activities such as moving arms or legs
Fine skills involve more finely turned movements such as finger dexterity.

18. Reflexes of children Rooting reflex –
You can often stroke the baby’s cheek and see this reflex

19. Eyeblink Reflex
Reflexive blinking that protects baby from bright lights and foreign objects.

20. Sucking Reflex
Babies instinctively begin to suck at objects placed in the mouth.

21. Moro Reflex
When the baby hears a loud noise or their head falls back, they may instinctively extend arms out, arch its back and bring arms toward each other as though they are trying to grab someone.

22. Palmar and Plantar Grasp Reflex
Palmar-Curling of the fingers around an object that touches the palms.
Plantar-Stroke bottom of foot, curl toes

23. Tonic Neck Reflex
The tonic neck reflex, or fencer response, is present at birth
This reflex usually disappears by 4-9 months.

24. Babinski Reflex
Babinski's reflex occurs when the great toe flexes toward the top of the foot and the other toes fan out after the sole of the foot has been firmly stroked
abnormal after the age of 2.

25. Sensory Development
Discerning faces - 1 month old babies appear to be able to distinguish mother’s face from stranger’s as long as they hear the mother’s voice as well
At 3 months, baby appears to distinguish mother from stranger with face alone

26. Sight
Babies are born legally blind with a vision of 20/600 – you need to be no more than 8 inches from their face
By 6 months they are at 20/100 – you need to be at least a few feet away
By 9 months they are at 20/60 – they can see you across the room

27. By age two, vision will be about 20/20
For the first couple of months, babies will be able to distinguish patterns, but tend to respond to blacks and reds
By 5 or 6 months, babies begin to discern colors
A word about pastels

29. Hearing
By 1 month, babies can distinguish between the smallest variations in sound
By 6 months, they have developed the ability to understand and make all of the sounds necessary for their language structure

30. Touch
Newborns have a well-developed sense of touch and will, over time, come to use this sense a lot
Babies will begin to explore their world using tactile sensations, which is why many of the toys for infants have different textures

31. Smell 1-day-old infants can distinguish between some smells
1 ½-month-old infants can distinguish between the smell of their mother and that of a stranger (which is why people tell you to leave the baby with something that has your smell on it)

32. Taste
Newborns appear to prefer the taste of sweet and salty and dislike bitter-tasting things
It has been observed that during pregnancy infants will lick the placenta wall which may help to develop a sense of taste

33. Depth Perception
Visual cliff experiment -

35. Visual Cliff Experiment
3-month-old babies would have their heartbeat decrease when approaching the “ledge”
6-month-old babies would have their heartbeat increase when approaching the “ledge” – would not crawl across, although some did when mother prompted them to

36. Depth Perception
Three-dimensional vision does not develop until about 4 months
Brain needs experience to develop 3-D vision
Crawling builds 3-D vision.