journal

Infant Development Milestones

Babies learn and grow more during their first twelve months more than any other time in their life. Growth involves both physical and sensory development which enable children to start making connections with the environment. The context in which sensory experiences occurs varies widely from one infant to another. Infants use their senses to achieve comfort and acquaintance with the surroundings. Development milestones of an infant can be identified through skills a child can perform. Motor, emotional and language development are the main categories of the development milestones. This assignment will dwell on a child’s sensory experiences and development from birth till they are one year old.

At birth, most infants’ behaviors are reflex or automatic because their thought process is not developed. These automatic responses are called rooting reflex and remain in a child till they reach four months. The nervous system matures and enables children to put more thought into their actions or behavior. In the first month, babies will start sucking and swallowing when their mouths or lips are touched because of rooting reflex (DoH, Western Australia, 2017). The hearing senses of an infant can be noted through the startle reflex. Startle reflex is when an infant extends arms and legs away from the body on hearing a loud noise. Infants cannot support their weight, but they try to walk when supported on a flat surface using the stepping reflex.

At birth, infants’ have no sense of day and night. Infants use the first six weeks to establish the rhythm of life-based on their surroundings. Infants are breastfed during night and day times. At night, most mothers are advised just to breastfeed the child and avoid extraneous activities with the child. During the daytime, this can be used as an opportunity to socialize with the child, for example, singing (Steps, 2016). Infants are not entirely interested in colorful objects in the first month. The hands and fingers skills are strongest in the first two months, and their distance of sight increases with several feet as the child grows. At the end of the first month, babies keep their hands in tight fists and react to sound.

The transformation of babies between three and six months turns them into very social beings more so with their parents or caregivers. Babies start understanding their surrounding’s between three and four months, for example, they start to know each other with their parents. Babies can express themselves better at six months as compared to their earlier stages of life. Babies at this age will react to basic facial expressions, for example, happy and sad faces. As babies grow to the six-month age, they start to coordinate their new perceptive abilities (State Government of Victoria, 2017). The motor skills at six months are noted by the baby rolling over and better finger coordination which involves different senses.

Adequate nourishment is required for there to be relatively predictable physical growth in infants. Babies have different genetic programs. Therefore, various nourishments are needed at different ages of a child to help them adapt to their changing body demands. Motor skills help a child develop physically, for example, the upper body of a child strengthens as they arch their backs using their hands. At six months, most babies can transfer objects from hand to another, explore objects by shaking, and sit up without the support of their hands. The hands and fingers skills help babies easily bring toys to their mouths. The range of vision broadens, and babies can follow movements as they reach six months. At six months, babies start to like shapes, bright colors, and complex patterns (Steps, 2016). The language of communication is based on tone variation because they can raise and lower voices like they are asking a question. At this stage, babies are more connected to the world and start understanding things to the limitation of their senses.

Figure 1: Babies playing

There is a rapid emotional and language development during the first year of a child. The systems of interconnections in the brain develops in the early stages to facilitate impulse transition in the brain. During the first two years, the weight of an infant’s brain is 75% the weight of an adult because of the rapid brain development (DoH, Western Australia, 2017). There are no new neuron formations during this stage because the process depends highly on stimulation from social interactions. This development sets the stage for walking, talking and thinking as babies move to toddlerhood. There are strong relationships between babies and their parents or caregivers at this age and engage in a purposeful two-way interaction. The array of cognitive tools helps babies understand things they cannot even dream.

Figure 2: One year old baby

At one year, baby’s cognitive and social emotions are linked to people and things consistently around them. During this stage, babies learn of an object’s existence when it is taken out of their sight. Babies also discover that objects have functions other than banging or chewing them. At this stage, babies change their sitting positions regularly without support. The social and emotional skills develop, and babies start to be shy around strangers. Babies at this age also start to cry when their parents or caregivers leave (DoH, Western Australia, 2017). The language skills start to manifest, for example, a child starts using exclamations and simple gestures.

Figure 3: Different Infant Developments

Infants bring joy and happiness to life as they grow and develop from the infancy stage. Babies grow in different capacities in various rates because of the unique genetic structure of human beings. In the first stages of life, babies’ behaviors are based on reflex and without much thought on their actions. During the first six months, the social emotions develop rapidly and are linked to the parents or caregivers. At one year, brain development is rapid, and this helps babies understand their surroundings and actions better.

References DoH, Western Australia. (2017). Child-development. Retrieved from healthywa.wa.gov.au: http://healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Child-development-3-6-months State Government of Victoria. (2017). babies. Retrieved from www.education.vic.gov.au: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/parents/health/Pages/babies.aspx Steps, S. B. (2016). Advantages of Organic Food. Retrieved May 23, 2016