Brain Development

In infancy and the uterus, the brain of an infant develops rapidly, and the infant develops quickly. An infant is born with all the essential brain nerves in it that it will ever have. The process of brain development is particularly rapid during the third trimester. The process of brain development changes after birth, where neural connections must form so as to aid in walking, talking, and also remembrance. The process of brain development begins prenatally just as there is rapid growth in the rest of the body. The first trimester ensures that there are necessary nerves that have been formed, which enables the baby to move around. The second trimester ensures that more brain tissues and nerve connections are formed.

            The brain has around 86 billion neurons, which sends nerve impulses through chemicals called neurotransmitters to other nerves through extensions called axons and receive back impulses through special receptors called dendrites. Synapse is a particular location where dendrites from one nerve meet axons from the other nerve ending. Adults have around one quadrillion synapse, and neurons, and these synapses make up the gray matter of the brain. While axons and their coating make up the white matter

            Pruning is a process where available synaptic connections deteriorate and disappear, strengthening the brain. Myelination is the process where axon of each neuron is covered by a special fatty acid layer, myelin, and protect it during the transmission of signals making it more efficient. Children that have the condition often speak fewer words and respond to specific questions having direct approaches while those with less or no requirement usually speaks.

            During development, the brain of an infant has to give the child a sharp and immediate response to the new environment, which is different from when the infant was in the utero. As such, having many neurons and connections helps the child to respond swiftly to the new environment without having problems. Once the child has developed sufficiently, the synaptic connections are irrelevant as they have already adapted to the new environment. Child development is the only way that a child will be able to adjust to the changing environment in a much more straightforward and elaborate way.

5.2 Sensation and Perception

            The visual acuity of an infant is hard to measure, but lies between 20/400 and 20/800, meaning a child can see clearly for 20 feet while an adult can see between 400 to 800 feet. By the time the child is one month, the visual acuity has improved, and the child can see clearly at 20/200, and by the time the child is six months, she can see 20/25 and 20/30. On the issue of hearing, by the first six months, a child can recognize their names when they are being called by their mothers. Babies are born with the smell sense and often show preference to some type of taste over others. Babies also recognize the smell of their mothers to others. Even after birth, infants prefer sweet flavors over sour and bitter tastes. Delicious flavors are used to calm them down and often prefer their mother’s milk, which is adorable. Lastly, infants have been known to respond positively to gentle massages, which improve their growth, and babies that are held skin-to-skin by their mothers cries less.

            The sensation is a physical feeling that is a result of coming into contact with the body. At the same time, perception is the ability to recognize something as a result of using either of the five senses. For example, touching an apple and understanding, it is an apple. Infants show some perception even from birth. Children’s preferences enable them to understand and connect to the people who are close to them more than strangers. They can understand people who provide for them daily.

            Because our sensory capabilities have evolved more than that of children, it is able to underestimate their abilities. However, it is paramount to understand that children’s sensory capabilities have changed so much, and they are able to recognize different senses and form a secure connection with their caregivers and mothers. They can understand the taste of their mother’s milk and also other senses.

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5.3 Infant Body Growth and Motor Development

             During birth, the head of the child is large as compared to their small and helpless bodies. They have large eyes, fat necks, and small eyes and mouth. These make toddlers look beautiful and cute. By five months, an average child doubles their body weight and triples it by their first birthday. And add about 50% or 10 inches during their length. After two years, the changes slow rapidly. Height is also genetic, and one can estimate the size of the child’s length as an adult by looking at the family line. Reflexes in children are connected to the nervous system and, as such, do not require to be taught some things like walking. When the brain changes during development, the reflexes are replaced by intentional and voluntary actions.

            An infant has several infants, namely: sucking, crawling, Moro reflex, stepping, tonic neck, Babinski, rooting, palmar, gag, and Blinking reflexes. Grow motor skills call for a response from large muscle groups in the body, while excellent motor skills enable us to make small movements mostly in fingers and hands and in lips and tongue. The cephalocaudal direction during myelination helps infants gain control of their bodies beginning with the head and other parts of the body.

            American parents should be encouraged to undertake the practices as they would improve their connection with their children and increase the growth and development of their children. Adapting such practices would increase the chances of their children, helping them to be sharp and smart during the growth. It would also help the children to adapt to the environment more easily.

5.4 Health and Nutrition  

            Toddlers and children might develop ear infections, gastrointestinal problems, and also fewer respiratory illnesses. They might also develop allergies, asthma, and even eczema sudden death syndrome, childhood obesity, diarrhea, vomiting, childhood leukemia, and type 2 diabetes. They may also have cognitive and education development problems. Lack of breastfeeding can result in mortality.

Many benefits come with breastfeeding in both mothers and babies. For mothers, the benefits include lower risks of development of type 2 diabetes lower risk of cholesterol, delayed resumption of menstruation, lower risks of ovarian cancer. Other benefits include, lower risks of developing cardiovascular diseases, the uterus also returns into pre-pregnancy shape, having lower blood pressure, and less reactivity to stress reduced maternal obesity later on in life, and reduced maternal depression, change in postpartum weight, and bone mineral density.

The benefits in children include less development of respiratory, ear infections, and gastrointestinal diseases, having a low risk of allergies, and asthma, reduction in sudden death syndrome among the infants, lower rates of obesity, reduction in chances of obesity, less vomiting, lower risks of developing leukemia and type 2 diabetes. They also have increased educational and cognitive development later in life.

Vaccinations are recommended as they play a vital role in preventing illnesses. Not vaccinating the child puts them and those around them at risk of contracting preventable diseases. Whooping cough and German measles was almost eliminated in the country but have resurged in recent years. Cortisol is a hormone in the body that helps the body prepare for threats in the immediate environment by increasing the blood pressure and the heart rate. The hormone also shuts down any function that is not necessary at the moment, like the growth process and digestion.

I would include different strategies that are aimed to give women the benefits they both have and present to their children when they breastfeed. I would also include the risks they put themselves and their children when they fail to breastfeed their children. Educating women would be important as it would raise the awareness needed to increase the chances of breastfeeding. I would also include a strategy that would enable them to breastfeed even when at work, which would allow them to incorporate the process of breastfeeding both at work and at home. I would also explain to them what they need to do and the food they are supposed to feed their children after six months.

References

Levine, L. E., & Munsch, J. (2020). Child Development from Infancy to Adolescence (2 ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.