BABIES and CHILD DEVELOPMENT

• Pregnancy:
  • Prenatal care before birth:
          folic acid, weight gain, protein, calcium, cravings
          avoid alcohol, tobacco
          exercise (but not exhaustion)
  • Prematurity and low birth weight;  holding and turning
  
  
• Childbirth:
  • Stages of labor:
    1. Dilation of the cervix
    2. Delivery of the baby
    3. Delivery of the placenta
  • APGAR score:
    • Appearance = color
    • Pulse >100
    • Grimace = irritable when stimulated
    • Activity = muscle tone resists extension
    • Respiration
  • Neonatal abilities: faces, sounds, responses, calming
  
  
• Infancy:
  • Nursing (La Leche), calming, holding and cuddling, supporting head
  • SIDS: "back to sleep", serotonin, cigarettes, co-sleeping
  • Immunizations
  • Physical devel.: safety (baby-proofing), exercise, muscular (climb, walk);
          safe on floor (floor time)
  • Social devel.: attachment (basic trust), holding, multiple caregivers
          talk, sing, READ; stories, songs, TV socially, schedules; imitation, surprise,
          choices, self-reliance, here not there
  • Language devel.: talk, sing, read, ASK; read early
  • "Terrible twos" and self-assertion;  prohibitions and punishments
  
  
• Childhood; intellectual development:
  • Freedom (and space) to move and exercise at will (safely)
  • Friends, free play
  • Toilet training, etc: encourage; don't punish
  • Choices, preferences (e.g., foods), self-reliance, guidance
  • Punishments and rewards; age-appropriate reasons
  • Conversation, naming, language development
  • Importance of READING       Never too early to start reading
  • "Theory of mind"
  • TV limited, social context
  • Counting, adding
  • Enrichment (objects, experiences, etc.)
  • Interrelated knowledge