The Biosocial Domain:          

  

Brain Development and Growth:

    - It's Important to know that a child’s brain grows and develops rapidly within the first two years or his or hers life.

          * The brain grows faster than any other part of a baby’s body. By the time a child is 2 his or her brain is 3/4 of the way to being fully-grown.

          * A baby is born with an overabundance of neurons and needs to develop more dendrites and synapses. In result there is an increase in the density of dendrites within the cortex. This occurs from the time a child is born up till he or she is two years of age. This explains why the brain triples in weight within two years.

        * Brain development is rooted from different experiences.

               -Experience-expectant: functions of the brain use basic experiences In order to develop.

                -Experience-dependant: functions of the brain that rely on specific and "variable events" In order to develop.

 

Other Helpful Websites on Brain Development:

http://www.envisagedesign.com/ohbaby/smart.html

http://www.cincypost.com/news/brainchild/news_brain4primer.html

 

Proper Growth and Nutrition:

        *Average Body weighs a little more than 7 pounds and measures to about 20 Inches.

        *A baby grows about an Inch a month for the first six months of his or her life and then slows down by a small              amount.

*By a child’s second birthday they should weigh around 30 pounds.

*Proper sleep is very Important, an Infant should sleep a total of 16 hours a

day and a toddler should average around 13 hours, (And It is completely

normal for babies to wake up a few times during the night)  As well as sleep,

nutrition is extremely important in maintaining a child’s health and growth.

 

 

more Breast-feeding photos         

    *It is very important to breast-feed an Infant if possible because breast milk contains colostrum. Colostrum Is Important for a newborn because it is high in calories, it protects against Illness, allergy, ache, and pain, and it provides antibodies to protect the baby from diseases.

 

  *In order to prevent malnutrition a mother should watch their child’s weight and make sure it’s within the normal because many babies suffer from protein-calorie malnutrition, which can result in serious problems.

*Another thing a mother should be careful of is under nutrition, which results in a child being smaller than he, or she should be. This is often caused when a mother switches from breast milk to formula to quickly. That is why it is important for mothers to check with doctors before making the transition to different formulas.

 

 Useful Websites:

Breast-feeding:  http://www.4woman.gov/Breastfeeding/

Proper Sleep:     http://www.webhealthcentre.com/general/yc_sleep.asp

          http://www.tau.ac.il/~sadeh/baby/about_sleep.html

          Proper Nutrition: http://allsands.com/Kids/Health/nutritionforto_vop_gn.htm

 

Hearing, Seeing and Tasting:

  *Babies don’t like sudden or loud noises it often results in making them cry. Babies enjoy soothing sounds and music because it calms them and often even puts them to sleep.

(Example: Lullaby music)  People: Beautiful Baby Eyes - Photos, Pictures, Photographs

*Babies are born with 20/400 vision. Newborns can only focus on   objects  between 4 and 30 inches away making their vision quite blurry and by 6 weeks babies can usually recognize their parents smile.

*Then finally at about 14 weeks the child develops his or hers binocular vision which is the ability for the two eyes to focus on one image.

 

 

 Useful Websites:

          Babies Vision: http://www.greateyecare.com/eyeknowledge/optics/babiesvision.html

       http://www.goodeyedoc.com/babies.htm

       http://www.iupui.edu/~ophthal/html/eyes_babiesvision.html

 

The Importance of Touch, Taste and Smell

         

          * Babies are sensitive to touch, taste, and smell. A child learns the smell and touch of his or her parents at an early age.

People: Baby Chewing On Fist - Photos, Pictures, Photographs         

* Ever wonder why babies put everything in their mouths? Well they like to explore things within their grasp with their tongues, gums, and lips because they are sensitive. Babies usually begin this process at one year of age.

 

         

*Often in order to comfort a baby we will rock or carry that child this is because the baby is soothed through he familiar touch. This also comes into play with Breast-feeding. A baby is at ease because he or she connects the taste, smell, and touch together.

 

Motor Skills:

         

* The first to develop in an infant are reflexes. The first reflex to occur is very important it is the breathing reflex. Other important reflexes include crying and shivering which lets parents know when the child is cold, hungry, dirty, etc. There is also the feeding reflex, which includes the sucking action, which allows the intake of food for proper nutrition and growth.

         

Helping Hand Photos, Pictures, Photographs* Gross Motor Skills include large body movements. This is when babies start to gain muscle strength and begin to move about. These are the average ages in which babies should be completing these specific actions.

 

7 months- A baby should be able to do the belly crawl.

8-10 months- A baby should be crawling on all fours.

9 months- A baby should be able to walk with help.

10 months- A baby should be able to stand-alone.

12 months- A baby should be able to walk on ones own!

 

 

Useful Websites:

          Motor Skills in General: http://www.parents.com/articles/ages_and_stages/3039.jsp

        Learning to Crawl: http://www.parents.com/articles/ages_and_stages/3272.jsp  

          * Fine motor skills include the small body movements. These are the average ages in which babies should be completing these actions.

 

2 months- A baby should be able to wave and grab for dangling objects.

          3 months- A baby should be able to reach and touch objects.

         4 months- A baby can grab an object although his or her timing is usually off.

          6 months- A baby can grab and keep hold of a specific object often moving them hand to hand.

          8 to 9 months- A baby can catch an object tossed at them.

          11 to 12 months- A baby can use both hands to catch an object thrown at them.

         *During this time period a child will also learn to point at things and speak with their hands.

·        Not all babies develop this quickly this is just the average ages for these tasks. However if a baby isn’t following close to these guidelines its smart to double check with a physician.

 

Useful Websites:

          Suggestions for Toys:  http://betterkidcare.psu.edu/UnitsWeb/BabyPlay/BabyPlayLesson.html

                                                 http://earlybloomers.com/articles/article_childsplay.html

Importance of Physician Visits:

         

* It’s very important that a parent schedules and regularly takes their child for check-ups with their doctor. It is important to make sure the baby is receiving proper nutrition, developing properly, and getting the proper and required vaccines to protect them against harmful diseases.

 

*These are all the important facts that a parent should know in order to maintain an infant and toddlers health within their biosocial development.

 

Useful Websites:

          Why it’s Important: http://health.asiangate.com/English/Immunization_TheImportanceOfChildhoodImmunizations.html

 

 

This portion of the website was created by Randi Hranich.

 

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                                      Works Cited

      Berger, Kathleen S. (2003). The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence. NewYork: Worth