ASSIGNMENT

Topic: Infancy

Submitted On: 09/09/2024 Submitted By: Aneetta Paul

Submitted To: Ms. Sreedevi Murali First year MSW
Faculty Nirmala Arts& Science College
Post Graduate Department of Social Work Mulanthuruthy
Nirmala Arts& Science College
Mulanthuruthy
 INTRODUCTION

Infancy, or the period of the new-born, is, according to standard dictionaries, the
beginning or the early period of existence as an individual rather than as a parasite in the mother's
body. Dictionaries also define an infant as a child in the first period of life.

According to legal standards, an infant is an individual who is a minor until reaching the
age of legal maturity, which, in America today, is eighteen years. According to medical
terminology, an infant is a young child, but no specific age limits are placed on when the individual
ceases to be an infant and be- comes a child.

Many psychologists use the word infant in much the same way as members of the medical
profession do and, like them, fail to set an age limit on infancy. This gives the period an ambiguous
status in

The life span. The word infant suggests extreme helplessness, and it will be limited in this
book to the first few weeks of life. During this period, the new-born’s complete helplessness
gradually gives way to increasing independence .
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INFANT

Because some infants are born prematurely and some post maturely, it is obvious that not all infants
will show the same level of physical and mental development. The following description of the
neonate. However, deals with the normal, full-term infant. Exceptions will be noted and explained.

1. Physical Development
Infants differ greatly in appearance and physiological functions at birth and in
their early adjustments after birth.
Size: At birth, the average infant weighs 7% pounds and measures 19% inches in length
Weight in relation to height is less at birth, on the average, in the more active fetuses than
in those who have been, less active during the latter part of the fetal period Boys on the
whole, are slightly longer and heavier than girls. There are marked individual differences,
however, in infants of both sexes.

2. Infantile Features
The muscles of the newborn infant are soft, small, and uncontrolled. At the time
of birth, less development has taken place in the muscles of the neck and legs than in those
of the hands and arms. The bones, like the muscles, are soft and flexible because they are
composed chiefly of cartilage or gristle. Because of their softness, they can readily be
misshapen. The skin is soft and often blotchy. The flesh is firm and elastic. The skin of
white infants becomes lighter as they grow older while that of non-whites becomes darker.

Frequently, soft downy hair is found on the head and back, though the latter soon
disappears. In eyes of white new-borns are usually a bluish gray, though they gradually
change to whatever their permanent colour will be. Infants with dark skin have dark brown
eyes but they also change, becoming darker in time. Natal teeth occur approximately once
in every 2,000 births. They are the “baby” type and are usually lower central incisors.
3. Physical Proportions
 The newborn is not a miniature adult. The head is approximately one-fourth of the
body length; the adult head, by comparison, is approximately one-seventh of the total body
length. The cranial region, the area over the eyes, is proportionally much larger than the
rest of the head, while the chin is proportionally much too small. By contrast, the eyes are
almost mature in size. The nose is very small and almost flat on the face, while the tiny
mouth may look like a slit if the lips are narrow.

The neck is so short that it is almost invisible, and the skin covering it lies in thick folds or
creases. In the trunk, the shoulders are narrow, while the ab- domen is large and bulging.
Proportionally, the arms and legs of the infant are much too short for the head and trunk.
The hands and feet are miniature.
4. Physiological Functions
Because of the undeveloped state of the autonomic nervous system at birth, the
infant is unable to maintain homeostasis, which is one of the causes of the high mortality
rate at this time.

With the birth cry, the lungs are inflated and respiration begins. The respiration rate at first
ranges from forty to forty-five breathing movements per min. ute. By the end of the first
week of life, it normally drops to approximately thirty-five per minute and is more stable
than it was at first. Neonatal heartbeat is more rapid than that of the adult because the
infant's heart is small compared with the arteries. When body movements are restricted by
means of swaddling the infant's body, there is an increase in stability of the heartbeat. As a
result, the infant is quieter, sleeps more, and has a lower heart rate. Even in a healthy infant,
the temperature is higher and more variable than in the adult Reflex sucking occur when
the infant is hungry or when the lips are touched. There is an increase in the rate of sucking
and in the amount of nutrients consumed with each passing day, partly he cause of
maturation and partly because of learning

The hunger rhythm does not develop until several weeks after birth. The hunger demands
of the newborn are therefore irregular, not only in regard to intervals between feedings but
also in regard to amounts.
KINDS OF BIRTH

Natural, or Spontaneous, Birth

In a natural birth, the position of the fetus and its size in relation to the mother’s reproductive
organs allow it to emerge in the normal, head- first position.

Breech Birth
In a breech birth, the buttocks appear first, followed by the legs and finally the head

Transverse Birth
In a transverse presentation, the foetus is positioned crosswise in the mother’s uterus.
Instruments must be used for delivery unless the position can be changed before the birth process
begins

Instrument Birth
When the foetus is too large to emerge spontaneously or when its position makes normal birth
impossible, instruments must be used to aid in delivery.

Caesarean Section
If x-rays taken during the latter part of pregnancy indicate that complications may result it
the infant emerges through the birth canal, the baby is brought into the world through a slit made
surgically in the mother’s abdominal wall.

HAZARDS OF INFANCY

In spite of its short duration, infancy is one of the most hazardous periods in the life span. Hazards
at this lime may be physical, psychological, or both; and they can affect both present and future
adjustment. In the case of the plateau in development, the physical adjustments may take place too
slowly, thus threatening the infant’s life. Psychologically, this plateau is hazardous because it may
cause parents to become anxious and fearful about the infant’s development, Feelings that can
persist and lead to overprotective- ness in later years.

Physical Hazards
Some of the physical hazards of infancy are of only temporary significance, while others can
affect the individual’s entire life pattern. The most serious physical hazards are those relating to
an unfavorable prenatal environment, a difficult and complicated birth, a multiple birth,
postmaturity, and prematurity, and conditions leading to infant mortality.

 Unfavorable Prenatal Environmen

As a result of Unfavorable conditions in the preriatal environment, the infant may have
difficulty adjusting to postnatal life. Excessive smoking on the part of the mother, for example,
can affect the development of the fetus. Pro- longed and intense maternal stress is another
important factor, causing the Infant to be tense and nervous.

 Difficult and Complicated Birth

As was stressed ear- lier, a difficult or complicated birth frequently results in temporary
or permanent brain damage. If the birth requires the use of instruments, as in the case where the
fetus is so large that it has to be aided in its pas- sage down the birth canal or if the fetus lies in a
foot- first or a transverse position, the chances of brain. Damage from the use of instruments to aid
delivery are always present.

A caesarean section or a precipitate birth, on the other hand, is likely to result in anoxia, a
temporary loss of oxygen to the brain. If anoxia is severe, the brain damage will be far greater than
if anoxia lasts for only a few seconds. The more complicated the birth and the more damage there
is to the brain tissue, the greater the effect on the infant’s postnatal life and adjustments
 Severe and persistent brain damage will have adverse effects on all adjustments during infancy
and often into childhood or even throughout life. The effects of brain damage are most frequently
shown in uncoordinated behavior, hyperactivity, learning difficulties, and emotional problems .

 Multiple Birth
Children of multiple birth are usually Smaller and weaker than singletons as a result
of crowding during the prenatal period, which inhibits fetal movements. These babies tend to be
born pre- maturely, which adds to their adjustment problems.

 Postmaturity
Postmaturity is hazardous only when the fetus becomes so large that the birth requires
the use of instruments or surgery, in which case the hazards are due to the conditions associated
with birth rather than to postmaturity per se.
 Prematurity
Prematurity causes more neonatal deaths than any other condition. This will be
discussed in more detail in the section on infant mortality. Prematurely born infants are also
especially susceptible to brain damage at birth because the skull is not yet developed enough to
protect the brain from pressures experienced during birth. Anoxia is another common problem
since the premature baby’s respiratory mechanism is not fully developed
The problems of adjustment every newborn infant must face are exaggerated in the
premature. For example, they require nearly three times as much oxygen as full-term infants
because their breathing is characterized by jerks and gasps. They often have difficulty in expanding
their lungs, and muscular weak- ness makes breathing difficult
Because sucking and swallowing reflexes are underdeveloped, the premature infant will
require special feeding with a medicine dropper or tube. The premature’s body temperature is not
yet properly controlled, and special equipment is needed to duplicate as nearly as possible the
constant temperature of intrauterine life
  Infant Mortality
Unquestionably the most serious of the physical hazards of infancy is infant mortality.
The most critical times for death during the period of infancy are the day of birth (when two-thirds
of all neonatal deaths occur) and the second and third days after birth. The causes of infant
mortality are numerous and varied. Some neonatal deaths are due to conditions that detrimentally
affected the prenatal environment and thus impaired normal development. Some are the result of
difficult and complicated births, such as those requiring the use of instruments or caesarean section.
Some are the result of brain damage, anoxia, or excessive medication of the mother during labor.
And some but fewer than in the past-are due to unfavorable conditions in the postnatal
environment; a radical temperature change may cause pneumonia, for example, or a substitute for
the mother’s milk may cause diarrhea or other digestive disturbances.

Psychological Hazards

Even though psychological hazards tend to have less effect on the infant’s adjustment to
postnatal life than physical hazards, they are nonetheless important because of their long-term
effects. Psycho- logical scars acquired during infancy can cause the individual lifelong adjustment
problems.

Relatively few of the potential psychological hazards of infancy have received more than scanty
re- search attention. However, those that have been studied, even though only superficially, are
worth serious consideration.
 Traditional Beliefs about Birth
There are many traditional beliefs about the effects birth has on the development of children,
Difficult births, for example, are believed to result in difficult children” those who are hand to
handle and whose behavior tends to deviate from that of children born with a minimum of
difficulty.
One of the traditional beliefs about birth that has received considerable scientific attention
concerns the effect of time of birth on the future development of the child While there is little
scientific evidence to substantiate the belief that there is a “best time” to be born, there is evidence
that, because the mother’s health plays an extremely important role
During the prenatal period, any unfavourable condition during her pregnancy may and often does
prove to be hazardous to her unborn child.

 Helplessness.
To some parents the helplessness of the newborn infant is appealing while, to most, it is
frightening. So long as the infants are in the hospital and under the care of doctors and nurses,
parents are not too concerned about their helplessness, How- ever, when they take them home from
the hospital and assume the responsibility for their care, infantile helplessness becomes a serious
psychological hazard. The reason for this is that parents wonder if they are capable of assuming
the care of their newborn babies and this, in turn, makes them nervous and anxious.
 Individuality of the Infant
To most adults, being different is interpreted as being inferior. When parents steep
themselves in child-care literature before the arrival of their first child, or when they set up norms
of behavior based on what their earlier born children did at different ages, they tend to judge a
newborn infant in these terms.
Parental concern is then expressed in their treatment of the infant. This, in tum, affects the
infant’s adjustments to postnatal life and tends to in- crease the severity of the problems that
concerned the parents. Under such conditions, the infant ’s individuality becomes a psychological
hazard which, unless parents accept individuality as normal, will pla havoc with the adjustments
made not only during in- fancy but also as childhood progresses.
 Developmental Lag
Some infants lag behind the norm in their development during the infancy period.
Instead of regaining lost birth weight by the end of the first week or sooner, they may continue to
lose weight or rest on a plateau with no improvement at all. Even worse, they may show such a
pronounced lag that in- stead of being allowed to go home with their parents three to four days
after bith, as is usual, they are kept in the hospital and may even have to have special nursing care.

The Infants most likely to show developmental lag are those born prematurely or those who
were in- jured at birth. Even a healthy, full-term infant ma show developmental lag should there
be some minor and temporary illness or should the mother’s milk be inadequate and the formula
substituted not be suited to the infant’s needs.
 Plateau in Development
Even though a plateau in development is normal immediately after birth, many first-time
parents are unaware of this. As a result, they are concerned when their baby seems to be making
no progress. Their concern is heightened if the baby regresses from the plateau and has difficulty
in keep- ing down what little nourishment is taken, thus droping below birth weight Should the
plateau last only a few days, parental concern wanes and gives way to confidence that all is well.
However, it often leaves some psychological obstacles.
 CONCLUSION

This assignment has provided an in-depth examination of the birth process, types of birth,
problems during delivery, and postnatal care. The findings highlight the complexities and nuances
of childbirth, emphasizing the need for individualized support and care.

The key takeaways from this assignment are:

 A comprehensive understanding of the birth process and its stages is crucial for
providing effective care.
 Knowledge of various types of birth, including their indications and risks, enables
healthcare providers to make informed decisions.
 Anticipation and management of potential problems during delivery are critical for
ensuring optimal outcomes.
 Postnatal care is essential for supporting women's physical, emotional, and social
recovery.

This assignment has implications for clinical practice, education, and research. Healthcare
providers should prioritize:
 Woman-centered care, respecting autonomy and informed decision-making.
 Continuous professional development to stay updated on best practices.
 Research into innovative approaches to improve birth outcomes and postnatal care.

By integrating these findings into practice, healthcare providers can enhance the quality of care,
promote positive birth experiences, and support optimal outcomes for women and their families
 REFERENCE

Reference : Development psychology.

- Elizabeth B. Hurlock