Child Development - Infant Stage

Child development psychology classifies child development in the infancy stage into three sub stages. From birth to fifteen to twenty seconds it's the pertinent period. Until the time the baby emerges from its mother's womb separated by cutting and tying of the umbilical cord, the child is a parasite and makes no adjustments to the postnatal environment. From thirty minutes to the end of two weeks the infant is now separate, independent and individual-no longer a parasite.

Physical development:

The physical growth development is fast with a faster rate in function of nervous system.

Child development behaviors:

All child development theories hint out that infancy stage of child development is the shortest of all developmental periods. Infancy begins with birth and ends when it is two weeks old. It is the time that the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother after approximately nine months.

i) It requires approximately two weeks to adjusting to the new environment.

ii) Infancy is a plateau in development. The rapid growth and development which took place during the prenatal period suddenly comes to stop with birth. There is a slight regression such as loss of weight, less strong and healthy than it was at the time of birth. This characteristic of plateau is due to the necessity for radical adjustments to the postnatal environment. Once the adjustments are made the infant resumes its growth and development, so no fear is needed about this characteristic.

iii) Infancy is a preview of the later growth development. It is not possible to predict exactly what the future development of the individual ll be on the basis of the development at birth. We notice only a clue of what to expect later on.

iv) The child development period in infancy stage is hazardous both physically and psychologically. Physically the infant finds it difficult in making adjustments to the new environment. Psychologically the infant suffers a little when the attitudes of significant people towards the infant radically changes.

Environment of adjustments:

The infant begins to gain child development skills and make adjustments to the new environment after birth.

i) Change in temperature requires adjustment. There is a constant temperature of 100*F in the uterine sac and it is 60 to 70*F in the hospital or at home ii) Breathing by own starts. When the umbilical cord is cut the infant must begin to breathe on its own.

iii) Sucking and swallowing is a self learning development. When the umbilical cord is cut off, the child gets nourishment by the reflexes of sucking and swallowing instead of receiving it from the mother through umbilical cord.

iv) Elimination of waste products begins. Letting out urine and stools is not a matter of adjustment

v) But some infants are seen to have trouble shooting with elimination matters.

Emotional development:

Specific and identifiable emotional changes cannot be seen at birth. Anyhow some reactions may be there as facial expressions of pleasantness and unpleasantness. These are characterized by the relaxing and tensing of the body. Whatever may be the stimulus the resultant emotion is intense and instant.

Social development:

There is nothing to tell about this behavior as it's just the starting point.

It's best suggested that the mother maintains a child development chart of everything about the infant child and for achieving the child developmental milestones.