Tuesday, November 11, 2008

INFANCY STAGE

Period of partunate: (From birth to 15 to 30 minutes)
This refers to the time the baby emerges from mother’s body until the cutting and tying of the umbilical cord. Until this, the child is a parasite and makes no adjustments to the postnatal environment.
Period of neonate: (From birth to two weeks)
This refers to the period from the cutting and tying of umbilical cord to approximately the end of second week of postnatal period. The infant is now separate, independent, individual and no longer a parasite. During this period the infant begins to make adjustments to the new environment outside the mother’s body.
Characteristics of infancy:
i) Infancy is the shortest of all developmental periods. Infancy begins with birth and ends when it is two weeks old. It is the time that the fetus must adjust to life outside the uterine walls of the mother after approximately nine months. It requires approximately two weeks to adjusting to the new environment outside the mother’s body.
ii) Infancy is a plateau in development. The rapid growth and development which took place during the prenatal period suddenly come to stop with birth. There is a slight regression such as loss of weight, less strong and healthy than it was at the time of birth. This characteristic of plateau is due to the necessity for radical adjustments to the postnatal environment. Once the adjustments are made the infant resumes its growth and development. So no fear should be there about this characteristic.
iii) Infancy is a preview of the later development. It is not possible to predict exactly what the future development of the individual will be on the basis of the development at birth. We notice only a clue of what to expect later on.
iv) Infancy is a hazardous period both physically and psychologically. Physically the infant finds it difficult in making adjustments to the new environment. Psychologically the infant suffers a little when the attitudes of significant people towards the infant radically changes.
Major adjustments of Infancy:
i) Change in temperature requires adjustment. There is a constant temperature of 100*F
in the uterine sac and it is 60 to 70*F in the hospital or home. ii) Breathing by own starts. When the umbilical cord is cut the infant must begin to breathe
on its own.
iii) Sucking and swallowing starts. When the umbilical cord is cut off, The child gets nourishment by the reflexes of sucking and swallowing instead of receiving it from the mother
through umbilical cord.
iv) Elimination of waste products begins. Letting out urine and stools is not a matter of
adjustment. But some infants are seen to have trouble shooting with elimination matters.
Emotions of the newborn infant:
Specific and identifiable emotions cannot be seen at birth. Anyhow emotional reactions may be described by facial expressions of pleasantness and unpleasantness. These are characterized by the relaxing and tensing of the body. Whatever may be the stimulus the resultant emotion is intense and instant.

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