PHYSICAL & COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF INFANTS & TODDLERS
Four major adjustments to postnatal (especially dring the first 2 wks):
Temperature changes
Sucking and swallowing
Breathing
Elimination
Important conditions influencing the infant’s adjustment to postnatal life:
Prenatal environment
Length of the gestation
prematurity
full-term
post maturity
kind of birth
natural or
spontaneous birth
breech birth
transverse birth
instrument birth
cesarean section
postnatal care
prenatal attitudes
Physical Development
Physical development is one of the many domains of infant and toddler development.
bodily changes, growth and skill development with the body, including development of
muscles and senses
Motor Development
The infant's reflexes
Newborn's reflexes prepare them to with the world
Some reflexes are important to survival (e.g., rooting and sucking)
Some protect the newborn (e.g., blink and withdrawal)
Some are foundations for later motor behavior.
Moro reflex - A sudden noise or loss of support to the head and neck will cause
infants to spread out their arms and legs then quickly contract the limbs inward.
Rooting reflex - Turning the head when the cheek is touched
Grasping reflex - Fingers automatically grip anything that touches the palm of the
hand
Babinski reflex - The toes will fan out and curl when the sole of the foot is stroked
from heel to toe.
Locomotion
allow children to move through different environments, moving their body from one
place to another
Neonates also express a range of early locomotor-related movements such as kicking,
stepping, crawling, or swimming
Gross motor skills
These larger movements include moving legs and arms, rolling over, sitting up,
crawling, balancing while standing, walking, running, jumping, and riding a bike.
Fine motor skills
These smaller, more precise movements include grasping and holding onto
something, picking up objects with the palmar grasp and pincer grasp, scribbling or
drawing, stacking blocks or toys, and self-feeding with utensils.
Cognitive Development
how children think, explore, and figure things out
development of knowledge, skills, problem solving & understand the world around them
Remembering and learning to talk
Interacting with toys
Identifying faces
2 months Pays attention to faces
Begins to follow things with eyes and recognize people at a distance
Begins to act bored (cries, fussy) if activity does not change
6 months Looks around at things nearby
Brings things to mouth
Shows curiosity about things and tries to get things that are out of reach
Begins to pass things from one hand to another
7 or 8 months Beginning of object permanence
Object permanence - the infant's accomplishment of understanding that objects (or
people) continue to exist even when they cannot be seen, heard or touched.
12 months Explores things in different ways, like shaking, banging, throwing
Copies gestures
Starts to use things correctly (like drinks from a cup, brushes hair)
Puts things in a container, takes things out of a container
Let things go without help
Pokes with index (pointer) finger
Follows simple directions like "pick up the toy"
18 months Knows what ordinary things are; for example, telephone, brush, spoon
Points to get the attention of others
Shows interest in a doll or stuffed animal by pretending to feed
Point to one body part
Scribbles on his own
Can follow one-step verbal commands without any gestures; for example, sits
when you say "sit down"
24 months Finds things even when hidden under two or three covers
Begins to sort shapes and colors
Completes sentences and rhymes in familiar books
Plays simple make-believe games
Builds towers of four or more blocks
Might use one hand more than the other
Follows two-step directions like, "Pick up your shoes and put them in the
closet"
36 months Can work toys with buttons, levers, and moving parts
Plays make-believe with dolls, animals, and people
Does puzzles with three or four pieces
Understands what "two" means
Copies a circle with a pencil or crayon
Turns book pages one at a time
Builds towers of more than six blocks
Screws and unscrews jar lids or turns door handles
A baby perceives that the smaller an object, the lighter it is; the bigger an object, the
heaver it appears
Hazards in Infancy:
Unfavorable prenatal environment - may lead to difficulties in adjusting to postnatal life (ex.
mother being stressed during pregnancy, fetal overcrowding).
Difficult and complicated birth – may cause brain damage, instrument birth, transverse
position, or caesarean section may cause problems)
Multiple births - are usually smaller and weaker than singletons. These babies tend to be born
prematurely, which adds to their adjustment problems.
Post maturity - This arises only when the fetus become so large that the birth requires the use
of instruments or surgery.
Prematurity may cause neonatal, anoxia, undeveloped sucking and swallowing reflexes
Hazards in Toddlerhood
Sharp objects Choking hazards Doors & furniture
Dangerous Stairs & windows Playful pets
chemicals Electrical outlets Health hazards
ADDITIONAL NOTES
FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME
craniofacial abnormalities & neurological damage
RUBELLA (German Measles)
miscarriage or stillbirth (and deafness)
GESTATIONAL DIABETES
first seen in pregnant women
gestational hypertension – during pregnancy and goes away after birth
chronic high blood pressure – developed before & after pregnancy & continue after
birth
RH DISEASE
protein
PREECLAMPSIA
“toxemia” sharp rise in blood pressure
MATERNAL MORALITY
bleeding, infection, heart-related problems primarily due to caesarian
SPONTANEOUS ABORTION
chromosonal abnormalities
during the early months of life - AMBIDEXTROUS
gametes, reproductive cells, found in - GONADS
emotion will be aroused when they see strangers – FEAR
zygote, blastocyst, diin makita ang nourishment – UTERINE WALL
principle that can sit before stand, crawl before walk – SEQUENTIAL DEVELOPMENT
The child is 4 years old, doesn’t want to go to school. parents force him/her – READINESS
5 years old, skills –
sudden infant death syndrome/SIDS - condition occurs when infants stop breathing during
the night without apparatus
breastfeeding/bottlefeeding - first 4-6 months of life
mother’s milk – breastfeeding
COLUSTRUM - first form of milk, contains the nutrients, most nutritious milk
2 types of malnutrition during infancy
MARASMUS - wasting away body tissues
KWASHIORKOR - swollen abdomen & feet (1-2)
Different sensory at birth
5 senses
already established - touch, smell, taste
not fully developed - hearing & sight
ACHROMATIC COLORBLINDNESS - person cannot see colors; babies during birth
closed bond with the caregiver - ATTACHMENT
low birth weight, low insulin - LESS FAT
APGAR measure: body color - APPEARANCE