INFANCY

1
CHAPTER 5 6

• INFANCY

Chapter 5 Physical and Cognitive
Development Chapter 6 Social Development
2
PHYSICAL/BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

• At birth the infant is almost helpless
• CNS (brain) is functionally immature until 7
  months minimum activity in cortex area
• Birth-24 months brain grows triples in weight
  neurons mature and develop
• Good nutrition (protein) sensory stimulation
  critical during this stage

3
PHYSICAL/BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT (cont)

• At birth reflexes are present (do not require
  learning disappear with development of brain)

• Sucking reflex rooting reflex, head-turning
  reflex

• Moro reflex startle response

• Babinski reflex fanning toes when tickled on
  bottom of foot

• Palmer reflex grasping reflex

• Other reflexes swallowing, hiccupping,
  sneezing, vomiting

4
SENSES

• Smell, taste and hearing are almost fully
  developed at birth hearing may be functional at
  26 weeks gestation
• Smell prefer pleasant odors
• Taste sweet over bitter, sour, salty

• Hearing prefer mothers voice (as early as 3
  days)
• Infants are sensitive to touch (pain) at least
  within few hours of birth

5
SENSES (cont)

• The one sense that is not fully developed is
  vision
• Newborns can see at birth, objects more than
  10-12 away out of focus (20/500 vision)
• 20/20 vision comes at approx. 6 months
• Preference for colors comes at 4 months
• Depth perception coincides with crawling stage

6
Motor Development

• Roll over 5 months (5.4)
• Sit without support 8 months (6.8)
• Pull self up to a stand 10 months (9.7)
• Walk with help 12 months
• Walk alone 14 months (14.9)

7
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

• Some evidence infants remember smells sights
  within days of birth (memory is of short
  duration, however)
• Birth 2 years Piagets Sensorimotor Stage
• World of here now
• Things have meaning when infant sees, smells,
  tastes or touches it
• Object permanence not complete until 18 months
• Possibly at 3.5 months some primitive notion of
  solidarity of objects

8
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

• Birth crying primary means of communication
• 1-4 months cooing, squealing
• 6 months babbling (resembles well formed
  syllables)
• 12 months 1st word spoken (milk, mama, dada)
• 18 months 2 word combinations 3-50 word
  vocabulary
• 24 months speaking in short sentences 50-300
  word vocabulary

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SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT(Chapter 6)

• Infant moving from total dependence to greater
  independence
• Freuds oral stage (libido energy focused on
  mouth area)

• Eriksons trust vs. mistrust stage
• Infant influenced/affected by others in life
  others also affected by infant and his/her
  temperament bi-directional

10
BONDING ATTACHMENT
Bonding usually refers to the emotional bond that
parents feel toward the infant
Do the parents have to be with the infant right
after birth in order for bonding to take place?
The emotional bond the child feels toward the
parents or caregivers is attachment
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FORMING ATTACHMENT

• Bowlby (1969) identified four sequential phases
  in the development of infant attachment

• Pre-attachment birth 3 months (does not
  discriminate one person from another).

• Attachment in the making 3 - 6 months
• (selective social smiling recognition of
  familiar faces,
• smiling less at unfamiliar faces)

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FORMING ATTACHMENT (Cont)

• Clear cut attachment 6 - 12 months (not only
  can they extend an arm to mom use motor skills
  to approach, cling to attachment objects

Stranger Anxiety takes place peaks at 8 or 9
months
Those that do best Many Siblings Frequent
exposure to strangers Mother leaves naturally
vs. lingering Moderate level of
separation Transitional Objects may help
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FORMING ATTACHMENT (Cont)

• Goal-corrected attachment 2nd year of life
  (notions of self develop by 18 months, refers to
  self by name, by 24 months recognizes adult
  standards - the viewpoints of others

• There is a recognition of cause and effect - I
  can do ________ and mom comes running.

14
Attachment Studies

• Mary Ainsworth Stranger Situation with 1 year
  olds
• Observer brings mother and baby into experimental
  room and leaves.
• Mother sits in chair while baby explores.
• Stranger comes in and is silent for a minute,
  talks to mother for a minute and then approaches
  the baby. Mother leaves.

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Attachment Studies (cont)

• Stranger and baby are alone.
• First reunion. Mother returns and stranger
  leaves. Mother greets, and comforts baby. After
  engaging baby in play, mother says bye bye and
  leaves.
• Second separation. Baby is alone.
• Stranger enters and is alone with baby.
• Second reunion. Mother enters, greets, and picks
  up baby. Stranger leaves.

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Attachment Studies (cont)
Ainsworth (1978) studies revealed two major types
of infant attachment

• Securely Attached Infants

• Insecurely (Anxiously) Attached Infants
• Avoidant
• Ambivalent

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Issue of the Role of the Father

• Fathers interaction with infants is mostly in the
  form of playing rather than caregiving.
• 43 of US fathers have never changed a single
  infant diaper.

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Issue of Day Care

• One out of two North American preschool children
  is now in daycare.
• The fastest growing type of child care is infant
  care
• High quality infant day care does not appear to
  disrupt parent-infant bond and has no consistent
  negative effects.