chapter 3 Flashcards
Body Changes (part 1)
body size
Body size
Average weight
–At birth: 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms)
–At 24 months: 28 pounds (13 kilograms)
Average length
–At birth: 20 inches
–At 24 months: 34 inches
These numbers are norms or average measurements; failure to thrive (if an infants percentile rank falls to low
significant decrease or increase in weight if height stays the same signifies
a problem
Sleep specifics vary because of biology, caregiving, and culture.
Sleep specifics vary because of biology, caregiving, and culture.
-Newborns sleep about -15–17 hours a day.
-By 12 months, norm is 12 to 13 hours daily.
-Newborns’ sleep is primarily active sleep.
-Pain disrupts sleep: colic, hunger.
Where should babies sleep?
Where should babies sleep?
-U.S. middle class infants sleep separated from parents; sleeping patterns may be changing.
Decision to co-sleep or bed-share linked to culture, age of infant, mother’s education level, depressive state, and father involvement.
–Asian, African, and Latin American infants co-sleep or bed-share.
–Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) (linked to cosleeping)
Awake at Night
Why the disparity between Asian and non-Asian rates of co-sleeping?
Why the disparity between Asian and non-Asian rates of co-sleeping?
-It may be that Western parents use a variety of gadgets and objects—monitors, night-lights, pacifiers, cuddle cloths, sound machines—to accomplish some of what Asian parents do by having their infant next to them.
Prenatal and postnatal brain growth (measured by head circumference) is crucial for later ___
-Head-sparing
Prenatal and postnatal brain growth (measured by head circumference) is crucial for later cognition. (brain grows more rapidly than any other organ)
-Head-sparing is a biological mechanism that protects brain when malnutrition disrupts body growth.
-Brain is the last part of body to be damaged by malnutrition.
-infant genes propel and protect this brain growth
Prefrontal cortex
Area of the cortex at the very front of the brain that specializes in anticipation, planning, and impulse control
Limbic system
Parts of brain that interact to produce emotions, including amygdala, hypothalamus, and hippocampus. Many other parts of brain also are involved with emotions.
Amygdala
Tiny brain structure that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety.
Hippocampus
Brain structure that is a central processor of memory, especially memory for locations.
Cortisol
Primary stress hormone; fluctuations in the body’s cortisol level affect human emotions.
Pituitary
Gland in the brain that responds to a signal from the hypothalamus by producing many hormones, including those that regulate growth and that control other glands, among them the adrenal and sex glands.
Harming the infant body and brain
Harming the infant body and brain
Necessary stimulation
–Babies need stimulation; severe lack of stimulation stunts brain. (sights, sounds, emotional expressions
Stress and the brain
–Too much of wrong stimulation has adverse effects.
–Shaken baby syndrome (abusive head trauma)
death or life long intellectual impairment
-intnese and frequent stress floods the brain with cortisol causing damage
transient exuberance
rapid and temporary transient early dendrite growth
-exuberant overproduction of cells and connections followed by a several yearlong sculpting of pathways by massive elimination
experience-expectant growth
some basic experiences are needed for the brain to grow
experience-dependent growth
built in plasticity
Face Lit Up; Brain, Too
-This young boy enjoys the EEG of his brain activity.
-Such research has found that babies respond to language long before they speak.
-Experiences of all sorts connect neurons and grow dendrites.
Hearing
Hearing
Develops during the last trimester of pregnancy.
Most advanced of the newborn’s senses
Speech perception by four months after birth
-infants need to hear voices expectant to learn whatever language parents speak (dependent)
Seeing
Seeing
-Least mature sense at birth
-Newborns focus between 4 and 30 inches away.
-Binocular vision between 2 and 4 months (coordinating both eyes to see one image)
-Experience and maturation of visual cortex improve shape recognition, visual scanning, and details.
Tasting and smelling
Tasting and smelling
-Smell and taste function at birth and rapidly adapt to the social world.
-Foods of culture may aid survival.
-Adaptation occurs for both of these senses.