Growth and development of infants

1. CHAPTER 8
Infancy

3. Infancy
Are defined as 1 month to 1 year
of age
Motor Development
-Is strongly related to physical, cognitive and
social development.
General principle associated with motor
development include:
 Voluntary behaviors follows the disappearance of
primitive reflexes.
 Pronation occurs before supination.
 The ability to grasp an object precedes the ability to
release it.

4. Gross Motor
Development
•Head control is judged
by the presence or
absence of head lag
•It can be determined
when the infant is pulled
by the arms from a
supine to a sitting
position
Fine Motor
Development
•Is the ability to
coordinate hand-eye
movement in an orderly
and progressive manner

5. PRINCIPLES OF
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Dev’t is orderly and sequential
Dev’t is directional
Dev’t is unique for each child
Dev’t is interrelated
Dev’t becomes increasingly
differentiated
Dev’t becomes increasingly integrated
and complex
Children are competent
New skills predominate

8. Developmental Milestones in Infancy
 Infants develop motor skills in a highly
predictable sequence, but they differ in
the age at which they achieve these skills.
The bars in this chart show the age span
at which most children reach a particular
developmental milestone.
Some children will attain these milestones
earlier or later than the ranges shown.

9. LEARNING TO WALK
A child takes her first
steps. Most children
learn to walk by 15
months of age,
although some normal
children do not begin
to walk until 18
months. Mastery of
walking soon leads to
running and jumping.

10. If not given:
Psychosexual
development
Oral stage
(Birth to 1 year)
Oral stimulation
Or sucking is the
central focus in
this stage.
Do not discourage
thumb sucking
give pacifier
Thumb suckers,
nail biters or pencil
chewers and
compulsive eaters
or smokers in later
life
Psychosocial
development
Trust vs. mistrust
Feeding, clothing
and comforting
Promptly meet
infants needs
The infant will
develop a sense of
mistrust
Delayed trust
development