INFANCY

Question 1

Characteristic of height and weight

Answer 1

height - 2.5cm/month

weight - 28grams/day
doubles @ 4 months, triples @ 1 year

Question 2

Cephalocaudal and proximodistal growth patterns

Answer 2

Cephalocaudal - head grows mostly in early infancy and the growth slowly descends to the trunk

Proximodistal pattern - growth starts at the center of the body and then moves towards the extremities

Question 3

Motor development

Answer 3

-turning from stomach to back 3-4 months

• sitting by 6-7 months
• by 8, sit without support
• by 10 can go from prone to sit
• walking at 1, may hold furniture

FINE MOTOR SKILLS
-grasping more of reflex then becomes voluntary 8 to 9 month

Question 4

Nutritional requirements

Answer 4

First Six Months

• Human milk is the most desirable complete diet
• Vitamin D 400U suggested in Canada
• Iron supplements about 4 to 6 months
• Formula is an alternative
• Solid food before 4 to 6 months is not recommended
• Feeding solids to young infants exposes them to food antigens that may produce food-protein allergies
• Developmentally, infants are not ready for solid foods related extrusion reflex and immature kidneys and G.I tract

Second Six Months

• Human milk or formula continues to be the primary source of nutrition
• G.I tract has matured enough to handle more complex nutrients and is less sensitive to potentially allergenic food
• Tooth eruption
• Head control
• Voluntary grasping and improved eye-hand coordination
• iron fortified infant cereal (rice) introduced first. The addition of other food is arbitrary. A common sequence is strained fruits/veggies followed by meats and eggs
• introduce foods one at a time with about 5 days in between

Question 5

Sensory and perceptual

Answer 5

Sensory: occurs when information interacts with sensory receptors – eye, ear, tongue, nostril, and skin

Perception: is the interpretation of what is sensed

Visual Perception

• acuity (legally blind when born to 1 year old)
• color (able to distinguish between colours)
• visual preference

Hearing
-let them hear. They do hear in utero

Touch and Pain
-feels pain.
Smells
-do smell. Especially their mom

Intermodal Perception*
-is the ability to relate and integrate information about two or more sensory modalities eg. Vision and hearing

Question 6

Piaget’s sensory motor stage

Answer 6

Sensorimotor Stage
-Basically, infants progresses to the point where they are able to organize and coordinate sensations with physical movement and actions

Object Permanence
-Infant understand that objects and events continue to exist even when they cannot be see, heard or touched

Question 7

Information processing

Answer 7

Habituation
o Repeated presentation of the same stimulus, which causes reduced attention to the stimulus

Dishabituation
o An infant’s renewed interest in a stimulus
o

Imitation
o Controversial at this point. Can imitate facial expressions within 72 hours of birth

Memory
o Hard to asses
o before age 3 may be referred as infant amnesia

Language
o in humans, it is characterized by infinite generatively and rule systems
o Infinite Generatively – using a finite set of words and rules to generate an infinite number of sentences
o Holophrase Hypothesis –a single word can be used to imply a complete sentence

Question 8

Language development

Answer 8

Biological Influences

Behaviour and Environmental Factors

• Parentese (motherese)
• Recasting
• echoing
• expanding
• labeling

How Language Develops

• 3-6 months begins babbling and cooing to attract attention
• understands – 300 words @ 2 years
• speaks first word – 13 months with about 200 to 275 words @ 2 years

telegraphic speech – short precise words

Question 9

Expression of emotions

Answer 9

Crying
o basic, angry and pain -> parents can distinguish

Smiles
o reflexive
o social

Stranger Anxiety:
o starts about 6 months and escalates

Separation Anxiety
o Stage 1 (protest)
 cries, exhibits, grieving and confusion
 tries to follow parents
o Stage 2 (Despair)
 deep mourning, hopeless
 appears to be happier, easier to manage
 if parents return, child goes back to protesting
o Stage 3 (Denial/detach)
 absence for several weeks/month
 willing to accept care, eat, play
 if parents return, child will ignore them

Question 10

Thomas and Chess’s classification of temperament

Answer 10

Thomas and Chess’s Temperament Types
• Easy babies: 40% of infants; adjust easily to
new situations, quickly establish routines, are
generally cheerful and easy to calm.
• Difficult babies: 10% of infants; slow to
adjust to new experiences, likely to react
negatively and intensely to stimuli and events.
• Slow-to-warm-up babies: 15% of infants;
somewhat difficult at first but become easier
over time.

Question 11

Erikson’s stage

Answer 11

Trust vs. Mistrust – Erikson (1st year)

o Gains trust when cared for in a consistent warm manner

Question 12

Reciprocal socialization

Answer 12

Reciprocal Socialization
- socialization is both ways between parents and infants

Scaffolding – a type of reciprocal socialization

• parents help and encourage the child’s efforts, allowing them to be more skillful than they would be if they relied only on their own abilities
• a take turn experience (peek a boo)