Newborns Stages of Development

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Newborns Stages of Development

It takes a year for a helpless newborn to undergo impressive transformation to an active toddler. A baby’s growth occurs at an amazing rate, with every month of their early life brining about new and exciting transformation. Parent sometimes do not know what to expect, and sometime wonder whether the development meets developmental targets. However, when determining whether your child meet the basic developmental milestone, it is important to understand that every child is different. While a child may take a short time to achieve one developmental milestone, s/he may take longer to achieve another. However, there are specific characteristics that newborns exhibit as they develop.

A newborn exhibits various reflexes and sensory capabilities. According to Meyerhoff (2012) these capabilities derive from the five human senses; vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch which are normally fully developed by the seventh month in the womb. A baby receives and responds to stimuli in his environment through these senses; they can hear, feel, taste and smell. Although some babies may take long to develop this senses. At birth all babies are ready to learn new thing about their environment using these senses. It is this senses that brings about reflexes in newborns. The reflexes include root reflex, suck reflex, moro reflex, tonic neck reflex, grasp reflex, babinski reflex, and step reflex (Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2012).

Sleeping and walking patterns also present other interesting phenomena in a baby’s development. Newborn babies sleep for long hours. They sleep for, as long as, 18 hours per day during their first weeks of birth. This however reduces to only 15 hours per day within the third month after birth. However, despite their long hours of sleep, babies never sleep for more than three to four hours consecutively during the day or night. In this regard parent or care giver can only dream of a few uninterrupted hours of rest or sleep (Baby Care Center, 2012).

After 6 to 8 weeks babies start to sleep for short period of time during the day and for longer spells during the night. However, the consistently continue to wake up at night to feed. The babies also have reduced REM sleep and increased deep, non-REM sleep.

Also, some babies can have nightlong sleep, since they may reach this mile stone when they are about 5 of six months old, sometimes older. However, parents and caretakers can influence the babies night sleep and help them get to this milestone earlier by imbuing good habits in them from the start (Baby Care Center, 2012).

Bonding, attachment and soothing interaction are also important in the development of newborns. Bonding and attachment are word that can, and are often used interchangeably. In this context, the terms basically stand for the basic link of heart and trust between an infant and its parents. In most cases it takes place between an infant and its mother first (Gatter, 2009). Bonding is an important pillar in human development. It is important for proper growth and functioning of a child. Bonding starts at conception, since fetuses absorb their parents’ experiences and carry the fears and experiences of their parents. When born the children absorb energy around them from parents and other people and as they interact with their environment.

Babies need effective bonding to enable them realized developmental tasks such as age-appropriate separation, walking, using a toilet, climbing, and fulfilling their need in this world. Children who realize proper bonding are able to handle success and failure in their future lives. They have the spirit of picking themselves up when they fail and try again. Bonding helps them become competent, strong, safer and secure since they develop appropriate believes about their worth (Gatter, 2009).

Bonding shapes how the baby will interact with other in future. It helps babies learn to build and maintain trust, develop intellectually, develop language abilities, nervous systems, regulate their identity and self esteem. Poor bonding results in insecure individual with poor self esteem among other unsocial behaviors.

Parent and caregivers can be very instrumental in guiding the development of a child at various stages of development. The can foster and support newborns in various areas of development and growth. Parent and caregivers can help newborns develop appropriate sleeping habits (Baby Care Center, 2012). First, it is important to learn the signs of tiredness in a baby. These include eye rubbing, ear pulling or dark circles on his eyes. It also indicates that the baby is sleepy. When these signs are visible the baby should be put to bend and allowed to sleep and instinctively parents/care givers will develop a sixth sense to detect when the baby is about to sleep. Some babies are night owls, but parent can teach them the distinction between daytime and night. Once the baby is two weeks old parents can make him know the difference between the day and night. During the day play with the baby as much as possible, make feeding social by singing and chatting to him, the lighting bright, don’t try to reduce on daytime noises such as music from the stereo or noise from washing machines, and gently wake him in case he nods of when he is being fend. However, at night change the routine by staying silent and passive when feeding him/her at night and minimizing noise and brightness. Also keep conversation with him at minimum (Baby Care Center, 2012).

Parents and caregiver can also ensure that newborns get proper bonding and soothing by creating positive bonding session, ensuring that they have a proper close relationship with the babies and keeping them from traumatizing conditions. Parents should ensure that they don’t allow their foul mood of personal difference interfere with their relationship with their infants.

In sum, newborns senses are normally alert at birth and help them interact with their environment leading to various reflexes in relation to stimuli. These reflexes act as the basic survival mechanism for the helpless infants. As they develop through various stages, their sleeping patterns vary greatly and they drop the reflexes. Babies also need bonding/attachment and soothing to help them develop appropriate social skill. Poor bonding leads to several negative social characteristics. It is the duty of parents and caretakers to help newborns and enable them achieve various developmental milestones.

References

Gatter, D. (2009) .The Importance of Bonding & Attachment. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Importance-of-Bonding-and-Attachment&id=2881774

Baby Care Center (2012). Establishing good sleep habits: newborn to three months. Retrieved from http://www.babycentre.co.uk/baby/sleep/habitsbyage0to3months/

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. (2012).Newborn – Reflexes. Retrieved from http://www.chp.edu/CHP/P02630

Meyerhoff, M. (2012).Understanding Newborn Characteristics and Development. Retrieved from http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/baby/understanding-newborn-characteristics-and-development-ga3.htm