Physical Growth and Development

breast milk

- first food

- promotes growth and brain relief

- no long term evidence of formula impacts

neurons

make up brain communication

dendrites

receive messages from other cells

axons

send out messages to other cells

growth in the brain

- transient exuberance

- myelin

- primarily connections in outer layer for thinking and perceptions grow the most in babies

immediate weight changes

- lose 5-10% body weight right after birth

- double weight by 4 months, triple by a year

- girls go through puberty sooner

transient exuberance

- brain growth within first 2 years

- when connections are used, they strengthen

- when connections are not used, they weaken

myelin

substance that speeds up brian processes

feeding

- feeding and social development go hand in hand

- oxytocin is released during feeding time

- keeping close proximity, in baby's eye sight, is important for bonding

- lack of social feeding can cause failure to thrive socially and in learning, and make babies crankier

- cascade from parent behavior to baby behavior

babies with special needs

often have issues using mouth to suck and eat

- used to thing it was psychological or parenting

- cleft palettes and NICU babies

sugar

- sugary diet in first 2 years is associated with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure in adulthood

- studied children born during sugar rationing, and diabetes went down

sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

- babies at least 2 months old dying in their sleep

- possible causes: birthd efects, birth weight, consuming honey, intake of carbon dioxide during sleep

- risk factors: smoking mom, poor kids, boys, more cases in the winter, the presence of a cold, sleeping on their stomach

- nonwhite babeis are more at risk

- rates vary among states

AAP recommendation for babies to sleep on their back

- when they reversed the recommendation, SIDS cases wen tdown

color blindness study

- showed different shades of red, the either green or red

- babies fixated on green dots like it was a new color

- indicated babies aren't color blind

early visual preferences

- black and white

- faces, more complex figures

- fixate on eyes, chin, mouth, top of heads

motor development

- moving and controlling their bodies

- reaching is very important for development

- from head to tail, from center out

progression of moto development

holding head up, rolling, cruising, then walking

cruising

standing on 2 feet with support by hands to move

babies in Virginia

- richer, more working moms, more likely to be raised by 2 parents

- less mothers with mental health issues

- more likely to be breast feed

- close to average mortality and birth weight

- moms are singing and reading to babies

- less likely to experience food insecurity and live in crowded housing

COVID babies study

- no real impact on baby's development if mom had COVID while pregnant

- children who were born during COVID were behind in social, fine motor, and gross motor skills

paid parental leave

- associated with infant brain growth and reduced maternal stress

- mroe accessible to wealthy families

- no federal laws, some state laws

- US has way less paid leave than other countries

paid versus unpaid maternal leave study

- mothers with paid leave showed more sensitivity and dyadic reciprocity than mothers with unpaid leave

- unpaid mothers had higher stress levels (cortisol)

paternal leave

- allows dad to be experts in childcare

- improves mother's mental health

- can combine with mom's to have a longer leave, allowing baby to have a whol year with a stay-at-home parent

developmental cascades

- motor development cascades into language development

- when baby's development in one domain changes their environment in such a way that it changes other domains

- involves connections across domains over time that influence pathways and outcomes

motor development cascades into language development

- parents talk more to babies that sit up vs. lay down, helping language development

- reaching paired with parent labelling helps with language development

development of imitation

- babies imitate what other people do with their bodies

- babies imitate when adults imitate them

- mothers who imitated more at 6 months had kids who imitated more at 18 months

- makes kids better at face-to-face interactions

- more sensitive mothers imitate more

- imitation is a motor skill that cascades into a social skill

motor skills cascade into social skills

- imitation makes babies better with face-to-face interactions

reaching

- when they reach, adults label, and they can see and hear at the same time, helping them learn language

- babies who struggle to reach are sometimes diagnosed with autism later

- precursor to pointing

the social reach

- 8 month old infants had toys placed in front of them either in reach, just out of reach, or far away

- infants reach for object that was too far away when there was an adult in the room

- infants used reaching as a social cue that they want something

the visual cliff

- argued motor development of learning to crawl turned on a fear of heights

- babies were scared to crawl on surface they thought was a cliff but was actually a plastic floor if they had been crawling for a month

- could've been because babies knew more about their surroundings after having crawled for a month

newer visual cliff study

- argues the visual cliff is a bigger indicator of depth perception than fear of heights

- tested babies at edge of real cliff to see if they could see if different exercises caused them fear

- when babies are new walkers, they walk right off the cliff

- when babies are new crawlers, they crawl right off the cliff

babies bid attention from caregivers with objects study

- mothers either responded with affirmation, description, or action directives

- action directives help more with development

- walkers get more action directive guidance

tajikistan babies in cradles

- babies bound in cradles are more delayed in developing motor skills

- not many differences by 5 years old

importance of milestones

- help identify children who may need interventions

- early milestones don't predict later abilities

- kids who have delayed motor development also have delayed cascaded learning from motor development (social and cognitive development)

social referencing

- starts when mobile

- when you're away from a caregiver, you still look back to help make decisions