Definition of Infant:
Who is an infant or what age child is considered to be an infant?
Many people worldwide are not knowing the exact meaning of infant. If we see from the point of view of age of the kid, the first twenty eight days of the life after birth is considered as the neonatal period, and the baby is called a newborn. This means 0-28 days is the neonatal or newborn period.
The months following thereafter, that is, from 29th day till the first 12 months is defined to be the infant period or infancy and the kids in this stage of life are called by the term infants.
SO simply telling, the period between 29th day of life till the first year of life is called infancy.
0-1 year age group kids are called infants, of which the first 28 days is considered to be the newborn or neonatal age group.
No matter whatever the definition is, the fact that really matters a lot is---"parenting equally needs attention in all the stages of growth and development of a child, may it be newborn, infant or toddler or preschool". The teenagers and adolescents also need the guidance and proper nurturing by their parents.
Infants grow quickly. Here breastfeeding plays an important role in the growth and development of the baby. Get more information on breastfeeding.
Growth and development of an infant:
Infancy is a period of rapid and continuous growth and development, the period during which multiple changes can be witnessed in the baby.
Let us learn about the characteristics one by one:
Before we get into the details about the topic, it is necessary to know that most of the changes can be seen more commonly in infants but may not be the same sequence for other kids.
The growth and development of any child depends on a multiple number of factors such as proper nutrition, care, surrounding environment to name a few. So believing that the same features should be present in all kids would be incorrect.
"Every baby has its own pace, rate and energy to grow and develop."Physical development milestones:
- An infant lies on the back for most of the time, almost 24 hours a day during the first three months.
- The head is generally larger in proportion to the trunk.
- The head needs support and baby can't hold its head. So it is advisable to support the head of the baby when you carry baby upright. Gently place your palm on the back side of the head while you hold the baby. This prevents any injury of the neck muscles that can occur due to mishandling or pulling of the head.
- The baby grows more during the infancy period 0-12 months and this means the arms, legs and all other body parts grow in size and mass.
- The weight of the baby increases twice the birth weight at six months of age. it is called the doubling of weight at six months. The weight becomes triple at the age of one year. Again this may vary depending upon the nutrition and the amount of breastfeeding a baby gets. The main source of nutrition during the first six months of life is solely the breastmilk and it is the major factor impacting the growth and development of the infant.
- The length of the baby almost reaches 10 inches after the completion of 12 months.
- 0-3 months, the baby sleeps more and rooting, sucking and swallowing are the reflexes seen as the baby feeds on mother's nipple. The baby can hold your finger loosely.
- After 2 months, the baby can try to raise the head when put on the back, but it is not more often.
- At 2 months the baby startle to sounds or noises with the sudden extension of the both upper and lower limbs on listening to sudden noise.
- After three months, the baby can turn its back a bit and move the arms and legs more often. The baby can hold the head now but still needs support as the neck of your baby is too delicate, you need not take any chance of hurting your little one.
- The baby at 3-4 months can respond to the finger snaps and verbal communication by turning the head and moving the extremities. Now the baby can sit in upright position with support.
- The babies makes fists with their hands and can start putting thumb into their mouth after trying for multiple times.
- At 4-5 months, the baby can turn on its side and try to lie flat on the belly.
- At 6 months, the baby can easily turn its back and lie on abdomen and can again turn back on back from tummy.
- At 6 months, the crawling reflex may start and the baby may start crawling on their abdomen.
- At 7-8 months, the baby can sit without support. They crawl more now. Teething also starts.
- At 9 months, the baby can start to stand up with support and try to walk in the baby walker.
- At 10 months, the baby will seek for support such as chair or bed and will try to walk holding the edges of the support.
- By 11 months many babies learn to walk few steps without support and start speaking few words on their own such as mama, papa, dada.
- At 12 months the baby can walk without support, front and lower teeth eruption occurs.
Social Development:
The infant demonstrates good social development from 0-12 months.
0-3 months: A natural cute smile is even seen in the newborns with their eyes closed. Have you seen a just-born baby pic or real baby? Well then, you might have noticed the smiling lips and closed eyes. The babies do smile even after opening the eyes. Just to clear!
Smile: Smile is the first social developmental milestone, which is seen almost throughout the infancy period.
An infant can smile at any person holding him without recognizing the primary caregiver or mother.
After about 3 months, the baby can recognize the mother and can smile back on gestures.
Touch: The baby can respond positively to the touch and express the pleasure. Feels secure when taken in arms or laps.
Swaddling soothes many babies. It may help them go to sleep.
Mood: The baby remains quiet or silent all the time. Some babies tend to cry more often and it may be a baby colic. When the baby cries for any reason, they become calm on holding.
3-6 months: the baby now can recognize their primary care giver and feeder. They can identify their mother and other family members. But as we know, the mother is the only person available 24x7 to the baby, the baby develops a great connection and emotional bond with the mumma.
The baby manages to smile back and laugh or giggle on stimuli such as by touching or gently tapping or squeezing the tummy, kissing or clapping in front of the baby.
The baby can now recognize the distinct voices of the person and now his or her name and may turn the head towards the voice when called by the name.
Playfulness begins after four months, when you are around the baby. The baby shows excitement by moving the arms and legs and/or trying to turn on its back.
Reaches out to hold the things you move towards the baby in an attempt to hold it. Picking up the blocks or toys kept near.
6-9 months: The baby can now cry out loud for seeking attention.
The baby tries to call her mumma by crying whenever it feels hungry or feels upset.
The baby shows the excitement and joy on seeing the mother and other family members cuing them to pick.
The baby can now respond more clearly to the verbal instructions or cues. The baby may express displeasure by curling up the eyebrows or frowning with lips turned down when you talk in an angry or harsh tone.
The baby can understand simple instructions like come, go, sit, eat.
The baby likes to involve in grasping the toys and playing, picking up the favorite toy and showing it to you. The baby may feel like crying if any thing or toy is being snatched from them. here they understand the loss and they try to cry to seek attention.
The baby can imitate their siblings or family members simple gestures. The baby can raise the voice on being fallen or getting hurt.
9-12 months: The baby can now understand many sentences but can speak only one or two syllable. The baby tends to get anxious in front of strangers. Feels more comfortable and relaxed with the familiar persons. The baby can respond to touch and smile.
Cognitive development:
Cognitive development refers to intact brain functioning which can includes the mental attributes like thinking, memory, language and the power of reasoning.
The period of infancy involves cognitive development in infants. This makes us understand how well the baby's brain is developing.
Let us see the most commonly observed changes in the infants that demonstrate their cognitive development.
- Till 3 months, the babies tend to live in their own world. The world of dreaming and sleeping, feeding, peeing and pooping. Babies need breastfeeding and their brain allows them to respond to the reflexes such as rooting, sucking and swallowing. This is what happens till the first few months without any resistance.
- Your baby's brain is too delicate and still there are changes going on. The baby is too small to explore any idea or thought or process the things that it is generally surrounded with.
- The babies learn to read the face slowly and gradually and by three months, they start recognizing some of the familiar faces that take care of them.
- The baby's can smell the mother and recognize her. It is thought to be a major factor that defines the mother-baby emotional bonding.
- A baby also is familiar with the touch of the persons handling it.
- Between 3-6 months, the babies tend to perceive things more and that too clear. They now learn to clearly see the human faces and recognize them.
- Babies love to touch the toys, see colorful images and enjoy the different views.
- Babies slowly and gradually try to recall their movements and imitate the expressions and cry more on being hurt or upset.
- Babies listen to the voices and sounds. They recall some words such as their name and turn their heads when they are called by their names.
- Babies love to be cuddled and respond by smiles and laughs.
- 6-9 months: The babies develop good sense of taste and smell.
- They can recognize the different images and understand the difference.
- They can imitate actions like clapping and touching or sleeping.
- Their brain can process some instructions like "come here", "clap", "lie down", etc.
- They now know their favorite toy or bedsheet and usually will not bear sharing it with others.
- Babies develop stranger anxiety after 7 months.
- They cannot trust anyone easily.
- 9-12 months: The babies now learn more new things.
- The babies engage themselves in play. Playing with toys, picking and dropping toys is more common.
- Babies wish to feed themselves. They would try to snatch the spoon used for feeding.
- They may resist to eating if disliked the taste of the food.
- The babies try to speak the words in a broken format but generally only make noises or ba-ba, da-da.
- Babies develop the trust that their mother and some things do exist even when they cannot see them. This is the reason that makes them fussy or upset when they fail to see their mother around them.
- Babies by now learn to play blocks, arranging and rearranging, pointing to them and following instructions at play.
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