Infant And Toddler Development Stages

Conception to Birth

The Zygote period happens right at the beginning of the pregnancy before it becomes an embryo. The usually last four days and is what brings the sperm cell and the egg cell together. Zygotes usually form when a male and female have sex and goes through mitosis, which is when a cell splits by dividing itself into two cells.

Labour and Delivery

Complications with labour and delivery isn’t usually a problem but sometimes problems can occur suddenly and unexpectedly. Some most frequent complications are the timing of the labour, problems in the mother or problems with the baby itself. A lot of problems can be discovered before labour begins like when the baby isn’t facing the correct way for delivery or when the mother’s water breaks to soon. Some complications during and after delivery include: the babies’ umbilical cord is wrapped around the neck or the uterus is turned inside out.

The Newborn

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is when babies unexpectedly die, usually during their sleep. This happens to babies less than a year old and the cause is unknown but research has shown some different physical and environmental factors that can put your child at higher risk of SIDS. Some Physical factors are brain defects like if the part that controls breathing and arousal from sleep hasn’t matured enough, low birth weight, or if 3the baby has a cold it could have breathing problems resulting in the babies passing. Some environmental factors could be if the baby sleeps on its stomach or side, if it’s sleeping on to soft of a mattress or waterbed, and overheating.

Moving and Grasping

Fine Motor Skills involves using smaller muscles in your hands. Some examples are using a pencil well by writing, drawing, and colouring, using cutlery like forks, spoons and knives, brushing teeth, and being able to use zippers, buttons, or belts. Some things you can do to help enhance your child’s fine motor skills are: letting them play with Play-Dough or some kind of putty, painting, drawing, or anything else that can help improve your child’s finger movements and hand strengths.

Trust and Attachment

Trust versus Mistrust is the first stage of known psychologist Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. This stage occurs between birth and 18 months of age and has said to be the most important period in a person’s life. During this children learn whether or not they can trust the things in the world and the child will be very attached to the parent because their life depends on it.

The way you attached to people when you were a child is the same way you attach to people now. There have been patterns discovered that shows that there are different ways you can get attached to others. The four attachment styles are: secure, avoidant, anxious, and disorganized. When you have a secure attachment style you aren’t stressed out about losing your significant other. When you are avoidant you are uncomfortable with closeness and find it difficult to trust of depend on others. Anxious people crave more closeness and intimacy and are often worried that their partner doesn’t love them or will abandon them. And finally Avoidant people usually have a lot of anxiety about the relationship and worries about getting to close to her partner or others.