INFANTS
(Ages 0-24 Months)
| Infancy is a time of rapid growth. Cognitive, physical, and social developmental changes are very evident. While there is variation in the rate of growth, most infants follow a similar pattern of development from month to month. Much of this growth is under the influence of genetic maturation, however, the child's environment is critical. Infants need quality nutrition, health care, interaction, tenderness and touch, and novelty in order to maximize their abilities and potential. Be good to your baby! Infant development is the foundation for their whole life. | Many new parents are faced with questions about childcare, in fact, infant and toddler daycare is a growing challenge.
| Read on to learn more. Also, visit the I Am Your Child page. |
C0GNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
People almost always make comments about how cute a baby is, but they don't often make statements like "this baby looks intelligent" or "I wonder how much he can understand me". Yet, infant interaction is critical to cognitive or mental growth. Parents wonder how much they can understand their newborn or infant, and whether or not they will raise their child to be healthy and bright. One thing parents might do to help is to understand their child's cognitive abilities. Learning about infant development is very important. In order to understand how babies develop cognitively, scholars try to explain how their thought develops. Below are some sites that will help us better understand; so, feel free to visit them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
The average baby weighs 7 1/2 Lbs . Seven pounds doesn't sound very big but you can strain stomach muscles , hurt your back or have shoulder pain all from carrying your small baby. The average child is 20" at birth. Each week 5-6 ounces of "new baby" is grown. By the time infants are a year old they haved tripled their birth weight..
Infants can distinguish between 4 basic tastes: sweet, salty, bitter and sour.
The brain is 25% of the adult size at birth and 75% at 2 years. We have all our nuerons at birth . Dendritic connections continue to grow and develop a better functioning brain .
- All babies are active learners, and engage in random and spontaneous activities.
- Growth happens quickly and seems like overnight.
- Babies can scan facial features in the first
month.
All babies follow the same pattern of motor developement. Creeping, crawling, supported walk and free walking are normally acheived by 18 months.
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Socialization
A major portion of an infant's social world is his/her interaction with Mom and Dad. Parents and other family members play an important role in socializing children. But one aspect of this process is often overlooked; and that is the idea that socialization is bi-directional. Just as parents influence their children's behavior, children also influence their parent's behavior. This is called reciprocal socialization.
Attachment
Attachment seems to intensify at about the 6th or 7th month of life. Attachment is that close emotional bond between a baby and his/her caregiver. An infant can even become attached to a special blanket or stuffed toy. This person or item can bring the baby a sense of comfort and security. According to Mary Ainsworth, there are different levels of attachment.
Emotional and Personality Development
Temperament
Even as infants, we all had our own temperaments. Some infants are very loud, while others are quiet. Some are very happy, while others can be hard to please. Psychiatrists Alexander Chase and Stella Thomas have developed three classifications of temperament in children. They are:
For more information, check out these sites:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Watch Holly grow! Visit this site and see Jim's granddaughter grow up! Who is Jim? Jim is the man who helped our class learn the basics of making web pages. Plus, he did an excellent job of portraying infant development in his granddaughter's page. Check it out! Thanks for all your help, Jim!