Birth and Physical Development during the First Three Years

Question 1

The act or process of giving birth.

Answer 1

Parturition

Question 2

A woman may have felt false contraction and this is called

Answer 2

Braxton-Hicks contractions

Question 3

The longest typically lasting 12 to 14 hours for a woman having her first child.

Answer 3

Stage 1: Dilation of the Cervix

Question 4

It begins when the baby’s head begins to move through the cervix into the vaginal canal, and it ends when the baby emerges completely from the mother’s body.

Answer 4

Stage 2: Descent and Emergence of the Baby

Question 5

During this stage, the placenta and the remainder of the umbilical cord are expelled from the mother.

Answer 5

Stage 3: Expulsion of the Placenta

Question 6

It can be used to track the fetus’s heartbeat during labor and delivery and to indicate how the fetal heart is responding to the stress of uterine contractions.

Answer 6

Electronic fetal monitoring

Question 7

Delivery of a baby by surgical removal from the uterus.

Answer 7

Cesarean delivery

Question 8

Method of childbirth that seeks to prevent pain by eliminating the mother’s fear through education about the physiology of reproduction and training in breathing and relaxation during delivery.

Answer 8

Natural childbirth

Question 9

An experienced mentor who furnishes emotional support and information for a woman during labor.

Answer 9

Doula

Question 10

First 4 weeks of life, a time of transition from intrauterine dependency to independent existence.

Answer 10

Neonatal period

Question 11

Lack of oxygen, which may cause brain damage.

Answer 11

Anoxia

Question 12

Condition, in many newborn babies, caused by immaturity of liver and evidenced by yellowish appearance; can cause brain damage if not treated promptly.

Answer 12

Neonatal jaundice

Question 13

Standard measurement of a newborn’s condition; it assesses appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration.

Answer 13

Apgar scale

Question 14

Neurological and behavioral test to
measure neonate’s responses to the environment.

Answer 14

Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS)

Question 15

An infant’s physiological and
status at a given moment in the periodic daily cycle of wakefulness, sleep, and activity.

Answer 15

State of arousal

Question 16

Weight of less than 51⁄2 pounds (2,500 grams) at birth because of prematurity or being small-for-date.

Answer 16

Low-birth-weight babies

Question 17

Infants born before completing the 37th week of gestation.

Answer 17

Preterm (premature) infants

Question 18

Infants whose birth weight is less than that of 90 percent of babies of the same gestational age, as a result of slow fetal growth.

Answer 18

small-for-date (small-for gestational- age) infants

Question 19

Method of skin-to-skin contact in which a newborn is laid face down between the mother’s breasts for an hour or so at a time after birth.

Answer 19

Kangaroo care

Question 20

Influences that reduce the impact of potentially negative influences and tend to predict positive outcomes.

Answer 20

Protective factors

Question 21

A fetus not yet born as of 2 weeks after the due date or 42 weeks after the mother’s last menstrual period.

Answer 21

Postmature

Question 22

Death of a fetus at after the 20th week of gestation.

Answer 22

Stillbirth

Question 23

A sudden death of an infant under age 1 in which the cause of death remains unexplained after a thorough investigation that includes an autopsy.

Answer 23

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)/ Crib death

Question 24

Principle that development proceeds in a head-to-tail direction, that is, that upper parts of the body develop before lower parts of the trunk.

Answer 24

Cephalocaudal principle

Question 25

Principle that development proceeds from within to without, that is, that parts of the body near the center develop before the extremities.

Answer 25

Proximodistal principle

Question 26

Tendency of each of the brain’s hemispheres to have specialized functions.

Answer 26

Lateralization

Question 27

Brain and spinal cord, and of a growing peripheral network of nerves extending to every part of the body.

Answer 27

central nervous system

Question 28

It send and receive information.

Answer 28

Neurons

Question 29

Process by which neurons coordinate the activities of muscle groups.

Answer 29

Integration

Question 30

Process by which cells acquire specialized structures and functions.

Answer 30

Differentiation,

Question 31

In brain development, normal elimination of excess brain cells to achieve more efficient functioning.

Answer 31

Cell death

Question 32

Process of coating neural pathways with a fatty substance called myelin, which enables faster communication between cells.

Answer 32

Myelination

Question 33

Automatic, involuntary, innate responses to stimulation.

Answer 33

Reflex behaviors

Question 34

Modifiability, or “molding,” of the brain through experience.

Answer 34

Plasticity

Question 35

Increasingly complex combinations of motor skills, which permit a wider or more precise range of movement and more control of the environment.

Answer 35

System of action

Question 36

Screening test given to children 1 month to 6 years old to determine whether they are developing normally.

Answer 36

Denver Developmental Screening Test

Question 37

Physical skills that involve the large muscles.

Answer 37

Gross motor skills

Question 38

Physical skills that involve the small muscles and eye-hand coordination.

Answer 38

Fine motor skills

Question 39

Use of the eyes to guide movements of the hands or other parts of the body.

Answer 39

Visual guidance

Question 40

Ability to perceive objects and surfaces three-dimensionally.

Answer 40

Depth perception

Question 41

Ability to acquire information about of objects, such as size, weight, and texture, by handling them.

Answer 41

Haptic perception

Question 42

Esther Thelen’s theory, which holds that motor development is a dynamic process of active coordination of multiple systems within the infant in relation to the environment.

Answer 42

Dynamic systems theory (DST)