1. Prenatal Development & The Newborn Baby

2. The Process… A zygote is a fertilized egg (conception – 2 weeks).
Developing cells are known as an embryo (2 weeks – 8 weeks).
The cells develop, and start to look like an actual human. This is a fetus (9 weeks – birth).

3. Teratogens Harmful agents that can reach the embryo or fetus
AIDS virus
Cigarette smoke
Alcohol
Drugs (illegal & OTC)
X-rays
Diabetes

4. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
Physical impairment
Cognitive impairment
1 in 750 infants
Alcohol especially damaging during the embryonic stage because it’s a critical period for development
Critical period – window of opportunity

5. The Baby Is Born!!! Newborns spend about 70% of their time sleeping
To study infants, psychologists show them pictures and record their eye movement, changes in heart rate, sucking rate, brain waves, body movements, and perspiration rates

6. Infants Senses
Can see objects soon after birth from about 8-10 inches away
The baby can hear before it’s born
It turns its head at the sound of its mother’s voice
The most important sense to a newborn is smell
A week-old baby can smell the difference between its mother and another woman

7. Sense of Touch Sense of touch so important
Helps develop brain connections
Baby massage
Contact Comfort/ Harry Harlow

8. Visual Sense Prefer a new picture or pattern vs. an old one
Clear contrasts
Pictures that resemble faces vs. ones that don’t look like faces
Depth perception: visual cliff

9. Reflexes Grasping Rooting Sucking Stepping Swallowing Moro
Babies will wrap their fists around anything put in their hands
Rooting
If you touch a baby’s cheek, it will turn its head
Sucking
Putting anything in a baby’s mouth, it will automatically start sucking
Stepping
Babies make stepping motions when they are held upright with their feet touching a surface
Swallowing
Allows liquids to go down
Moro
Startling reflex… when startled, the baby throws it arms and legs into the air, opens its fingers wide searching for its mother’s hand

10. Temperament (Thomas & Chess)
Easy
Cheerful, relaxed, predictable
Slow-to-warm-up
Cautious, but when comfortable, easy
Shy
Apprehensive of new environments/people
Difficult
Irritable, intense, unpredictable

11. HOMEWORK!!!
Your temperament is your biological predisposition. It usually doesn’t change over time.
Take a few minutes now to write out what you think your temperament is right now
Go home tonight and ask your parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. what your temperament was like as an infant

12. Maturation
Natural growth or change that unfolds in a relatively fixed sequence independent of the environment
Brain develops neural networks
Don’t have memories of life earlier than 3-4

13. Motor Development Hold head up Roll over Sit unsupported
Creep on all fours
Crawl
Walk
Last two can be out of order