Chapter 4: Physical Development in Infancy

McGraw-Hill
2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Lifespan Development Chapter 4

Physical Growth and Development in Infancy

 Infant physical development is extensive in first 2 years of life

Within 1st year Child grows out of having a gigantic head disproportionate to the body From some basic reflexes, to capacity to sit, stand, climb, and walk almost anywhere

During 2nd year: rapid growth sequence

 Cephalocaudal pattern of development Sequence of growth occurs from top (head) to bottom (feet) size, weight, and sensory and motor development
Proximodistal pattern of development Growth sequence begins at center of body and moves toward extremities Average length and average weight of North American newborns are 20 inches and 7.5 pounds, respectively 95% of newborns are full-term

 Brain continues developing past infancy

Shaken baby syndrome: brain swelling and hemorrhaging from child abuse trauma At birth, brain is 25% of adult weight; at 2 years of age, it is 75% During infancy and toddlerhood, neurons develop as:
They increase in size and connections to one another The myelin sheath continues to develop

Unimportant neurons die so that more efficient connections can be formed (synaptic pruning)

Brains primary motor areas develop earlier than other areas

The Neuron

Figure 5.2

 Myelination for vision usually completed in 6 months after birth and for hearing at 4 or 5 years of age
Some myelination continues into adolescence Most dramatic changes in brain occur in first 2 years of life (see Fig. 5.3)

Synapses are tiny gaps between neurons; chemical interactions occur here between axons and dendrites Pruning of connections: overproduction of synapses leads to gradual retraction

Development of Dendritic Spreading

At birth

1 month

3 months 15 months 24 months

Figure 5.3

 EEG measures brains electrical activity PET: Positron-emission tomography MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging
Cerebral cortex divided into 2 hemispheres Lateralization: Process by which the two halves of the brain become specialized to perform different functions. Each hemisphere is divided into 4 main areas: Frontal lobe: voluntary thinking and movement

Occipital lobe: vision functions Temporal lobe: hearing functions Parietal lobe: processing body sensations

The Brains Hemispheres and Emotions

Front Concentrating, planning, problem solving Language structure Motor cortex Sensory cortex

Approach behaviors

Withdrawal behaviors

Left
Joy, bliss, pride, anger, hostility, jealousy, interest, concern, responsibility Based on Figure 5.6

Right
Distress, misery, agony, disgust, contempt, resentment, fear, horror, anxiety

Primary Interpreting Primary hearing experiences Language visual comprehension

 Enriched environments promote faster brain development than deprived ones After birth: sights, sounds, smells, touches, language, and eye contact help shape the brains neural connections Cultural variations influence infant sleep patterns; newborns sleep an average of 1617 hours per day The practice of shared sleeping, in which a newborn shares a bed with mother, varies among cultures
i.e., Kipsigis of Kenya rarely sleep more than 3 hours at a time until after 8 months.

 SIDS: sudden infant death syndrome infants stop breathing and die without apparent cause
Highest risk is in first 46 weeks of life Highest cause of infant death in U.S. annually Risk decreases when infant sleeps on its back Higher risk factors associated with SIDS:

Infants with siblings who died from SIDS

Infants with sleep apnea or low birthweight Infant passively exposed to cigarette smoke Being from lower SES or being African American or Eskimo

 Nutrition is important as infant nearly triples weight in 1st year

Low-fat, low-calorie foods and skim milk can retard babys development in first 2 years of life Benefits for infant from breast milk can include Denser bones in childhood/adulthood Reduced incidence of asthma, SIDS, ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory infections, bacterial and urinary tract infections and overall improved immune function during infancy. Reduced childhood cancers and breast cancer as female adult Improved neurological and cognitive development Improved visual acuity

Mother should not breast-feed if she has AIDS or other infectious diseases or active tuberculosis or is taking drugs that can be transmitted through breast milk
Prolonged and severe malnutrition can be detrimental to childs cognitive, physical, and social development
Marasmus: results from protein-calorie deficiency during first year and causes wasting away of tissues. Kwashiorkor: results from deficiency in protein; causes distended belly and usually appears between ages 1 and 3.

Toilet training should be a positive experience starting at around 2 years of age or older
Intensive toilet training before 27months is ineffective.
readiness includes social, cognitive and biological factors.

Motor Development
Dynamic systems view:
Motor development is not a result of nature alone but an active process in which nature and nurture work together Infants assemble motor skills for perceiving and acting, as solutions to goals Environment motivates infants to act Perceptions help infants fine-tune movements Three factors enable new behaviors to emerge

 Converging factors enabling new behaviors to emerge:

Development of nervous system and bodys physical capabilities The goal that the child is motivated to reach The environmental support for the necessary skills used to reach a goal

Baby begins to crawl and grasp things

Baby masters balance and grasping things

Child is nurtured by mother Perceptions, nurturing, and practice allow baby to fine-tune grasping

Child is encouraged by grandmother

 Motor development begins with reflexes

Sucking and rooting reflexes disappear about 34 months after birth Moro reflex (automatic arching of back and wrapping of arms to center of body when startled) disappears about 34 months after birth

Grasping reflex (infants hands close around anything that touches the palms) disappears as voluntary grasp develops

Gross motor skills enable large-muscle activities

Milestones in Gross Motor Development

Degree of motor development Stand with support Sit without support

Walk alone easily

Support some weight with legs

Stand alone easily

Roll over
Prone, chest up, arms for support Walk using furniture for support

Prone, lift head

0 1 2 3 4 5

Pull self to stand

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Age in months
Figure 5.13

 Cultural variations: mothers in developing countries treat infants differently from mothers in developed cultures Jamaican mothers Regularly massage infants and stretch their arms and legs
On average, their babies sit and walk alone

23 months earlier than English babies

Algonquin infants in Quebec, Canada Strapped to cradleboard for 1st year Sit, crawl, and walk about same time as those in cultures raised without cradleboard

Fine motor skills for finely tuned activities

Perceptual-motor coupling (using perception and motor skills together) is necessary for infants to coordinate grasping Experienced infants look at objects longer, reach for them more, and are more likely to mouth the objects Four-month-olds often rely on touch while eight-month-olds rely on vision to determine how they will grip an object

Sensation and Perception

Information is transmitted through smell, touch, hearing, taste, and vision to sensory receptors
Perception is an interpretation of what is sensed Ecological view sees environment as rich with information and sees perceptual system as selecting from it Perception enables interaction with, and adaptation to, ones environment

 Infants gain adult-like color vision by 2 months Two-month-olds scan wide areas of faces and show preferences for target and stripped patterns Perceptual constancy in seeing sizes and shapes starts to develop between 3 and 5 months of age Depth perception as tested by visual cliff is evident in 2- to 4-month-old infants

Infants develop expectations about future events at about 3 months of age (on average)

Studying Infants Perceptual Abilities

Habituation: gradual reduction in the strength of a response due to repetitive stimulation (getting a baby used to a stimulus so it no longer responds to it as if it is new) Dishabituation: Introducing a new stimulus to cause responsiveness to return to a high level. Visual Preference Method: a method used to determine whether infants can distinguish one stimulus from another by measuring the length of time they attend to different stimuli.

 Infants aged 68 months can perceive gravity and understand that objects can fall or roll
Fetuses can hear sounds during the last 2 months of pregnancy and recognize the mothers voice at birth Newborns Show a preference for human speech Are born deaf in about 1 in 1,000 cases Can feel pain at birth Are sensitive to taste before birth Sensory input detection is affected by experience