1. Human Development I
Chapter 7
Physical Development of Infants

2. Learning Objective
and FCS Standards
Learning Objective: Students will understand
how a baby develops physically in the first year.
Also identify what influences development and
care that babies need in the first year of life.
FCS Standards:06-12.5.1, 5.A, 5.B, 5.C

3. Patterns of Development
Growth:
changes in size, such as weight and length.
Development:
Increase in skills and changes in physical, emotional,
social, or intellectual skills.

4. Physical Development
Follows 3 basic patterns
Head to foot
 head is first to develop, even in the womb
 Babies can first control their headthen their arms, hands
Near to far
 starts close to trunk of body and moves outward
 Goes from waving to grasping
Simple to complex
 large muscle groups develop first, then more complex
movements, requiring small muscle development.

5. Developmental Milestones
Developmental milestones: Certain skills
that are acquired at certain times in a
child’s life.
Child development experts have studied the
range of ages to determine the averages ages
at which children acquire certain skills.
These are used to check progress.

6. What influences a child’s growth and
development?
Why might some kids reach the
development milestones on time and
others reach the developmental milestone
late?

7. Influences on Growth and Development
 Heredity: the gene effect-traits passed down from generation to
generation
 Nutrition: essential nutrients found in food can influence how a baby
grows and develops. Not getting enough can place baby at risk for
illness, delayed growth, even death.
 Health: through good health, baby is able to explore his/her
environment and therefore grow and develop normally
 Experiences: when a child experiences a variety of things, it
stimulates their brain to develop
 Environment: stimulating environment: one in which the baby has a
wide variety of things to see, taste, smell, hear, and touch-enhances
brain development. Poor stimulation can lead to weaker connections
in the brain and delayed development.

8. The growth and development of a child during the
first year of life is dramatic.
What changes are obvious from these photos?

9. Growth During the First Year
From birth to age one, babies typically
triple their birth weight and increase their
length by 50%.
Doctors judge this by using growth
charts: shows the average weight and
height of girls and boys at various stages.
Doctors are more concerned that a baby is
steadily growing, versus meeting a certain
weight or height at a certain time.

10. Average Lengths and Weights
0-12 months
Males Females
Age Length/Inches Weight/Pounds Length/Inches Weight/Pounds
Birth 19 ¾ 7 ½ 19 ½ 7 ½
3 Months 24 13 23 ½ 12 ¼
6 Months 26 ½ 17 ½ 25 ½ 15 ½
9 Months 28 20 ½ 27 ½ 18 ¾
12 Months 29 22 ½ 29 21

11. Weight
One of the best signs of good health.
Initially a newborn loses about 10% of their weight,
however after that they begin to gain rapidly.
Weight should triple by the end of year one.
One-year-olds usually weigh 20-22 lbs.
Boys usually weigh more than girls.

12. Length
Bone growth is rapid during the first year.
The average newborn is 20 inches. A year later,
they are about 30 inches.
Not all babies grow at the same rate and boys
are usually slightly longer than girls.
Heredity plays a bigger part in height than
weight.

13. Body Shape
Babies change from holding their extremities close to their
bodies and in a curled up position to stretching out. Legs
and feet straighten out.
They look chubby by 3 months, but will lose some of this
as they become more active.
When babies begin to practice standing, they lean forward
slightly and have a protruding belly.

14. Proportion
Proportion: the size relationship between
different parts of the body
Baby’s head and abdomen are large compared
to the rest of the body.
More than half of the head’s total growth happens
during this time.
Fontanels allow the head to grow.
Legs and arms are short and small compared to
the rest of the body.

15. Activity…
Complete Infant Growth Rates worksheet

16. Development During the First Year
Vision
How far can an infant
see?
 At birth: 7-10 inches
 1 month: 3 feet
 6 months: eyesight is almost fully
developed, clarity and sharpness
close to an adult
Babies first see the world
two-dimensionally, but by
the second month, the
infant develops depth
perception: the ability to
perceive objects that are
three-dimensional.
 How would this change affect how
they interact with the world?

17. Development During the First Year
Vision
Colors are important to a baby. They prefer
patterns that show high contrast: stripes, bull’s
eye, simple faces. Typically look at red and blue
most often.
If baby has one eye that looks slightly crossed or
both are this way, this typically improves by 4
months when the eye muscles strengthen.

18. Development During the First Year
Hearing
 Babies can hear, even in the womb.
 At birth, a baby can tell which direction a sound comes from.
 Newborns respond to tone rather than words.
 By seven months, babies recognize their parents’ voice.
 Language development begins early by hearing and eventually
imitating sounds.
 Premies and babies with frequent ear infections can have problems
developing language.

19. Development During the First Year
Touch
Newborns rely on the touch of others to teach them
about their environment.
Meeting a baby’s needs through gentle touch, builds
trust.
Sense of touch continues to develop, as they are able to
explore their environment. They begin to notice
differences in texture and explore different objects.

20. Development During the First Year
Smell and Taste
Sense of smell doesn’t have a chance to develop
until after birth, But by 10 days old, a baby can
distinguish the scent of mom from another person.
Sense of taste also develops rapidly. Even 2-
week-old babies prefer sweet tastes over others.
Babies learn by putting things in their mouth. It’s
important to watch them closely for this reason.

21. Development During the First Year
Voice
The shrill cry of a newborn becomes softer as baby’s
lungs mature.
Throat muscles, tongue, lips, teeth, and vocal cords all
mature as well, preparing the baby for the ability to speak.
At 3 months, baby begins making vowel sounds (“ooh”,
“ah”).
By age one, babies may imitate speech sounds and
understand simple phrases.

22. Motor Skills- Much of the physical development in
the first year is in muscle movement, or motor skills
Gross Motor Skills
large motor skills
Involve large muscles,
such as legs and
shoulders
Allow for movements like
running, jumping.
Fine Motor Skills
small motor skills
Involve the smaller
muscles, such as the
fingers
Used in writing and using
scissors.

23. Gross Motor Skills Fine Motor Skills

24. What do you think would happen?
 You are holding your 3 month old baby
and walking along the pool. No one else
is around. You trip and fall and hit your
head. Your baby falls into the pool.
 What is going to happen to your baby?

25. Your baby would swim!
 Swimming Reflex
If you hold an infant over water or place them in
water.
○ Move arms and legs in a coordinated swimming
motion
○ Hold their breath
○ Disappears between 6-12 months
○ Let’s watch them swim! Video 1, Video 2
 These are called INFANT REFLEXES
automatic reactions to help a babies chance of
survival

26. Infant Reflexes
Stepping reflex
Hold an infant so feet touch a surface
They will lift legs up and down as if their were walking
Disappears at 3-4 months
Video
Crawling reflex
Place infant on stomach and stroke the soles of their feet
They will move arms and legs as if they were crawling.
Disappears at 3 months
Would they actually walk or crawl?

27. Infant Reflexes
Rooting
Stroke the baby’s cheek or side of mouth
Baby will turn head towards the stimulus and begin
sucking
Disappears 3-4 months
Sucking
Place an object in baby’s mouth
Baby begins sucking
Disappears 3-4 months
What would happen if a baby was born without
these reflexes? What about 100 years ago?
Rooting/Sucking video

28. Infant Reflexes
Grasping
Touch a baby’s palm or place something in their palm
Baby will grasp it tightly with their hand
Weakens after 3 months and disappears after a year
Video
Moro-startle
If a baby hears a loud noise of the sensation of being dropped
Startle – baby will arch their back, throw their head back, fling
their arms and legs and then rapidly close them to the center of
their body
Disappears 3-4 months
Video 1, Video 2

29. Infant Reflexes
 Asymmetric Tonic Neck
Place an infant on their back
○ Baby’s head turns to one side, the limbs on the face
side extend while the limbs on the opposite side flex
(fencer position)
○ Disappears at 2 months
My son-Adam, 2 months

30. Infant Care Skills
Baby’s Do’s and Don’ts

31. Infant Care Skills
Handling Babies
Make sure to support their head-
especially until they can hold up
their head without support (3-4
months).
Rocking, holding a baby close,
swaddling, and patting their back
can be soothing. BABIES NEED
TO BE HELD.

32. Shaken Baby Syndrome
Shaken baby syndrome:
a condition that occurs
when someone severely
shakes a baby, usually in
an effort to make them
stop crying.
Can lead to serious brain
damage, cerebral palsy,
blindness, fractures, neck
or spine injuries, or even
death.

33. Shaken Baby Syndrome
What to do if you are close to the
breaking point:
Put the baby down and go to
another room to calm down.
Ask a friend or relative to care for
the baby for a while.
Talk to someone.
Call a parenting hotline.

34. Ensuring Adequate Sleep
Sleep safety
 Choose a safe bed
 No fluffy blankets,
pillows, or stuffed
animals.
 Place baby face up
 Don’t allow baby to
sleep in bed with
adults.
Sleep is essential for growth and development!

36. Feeding Babies
birth to 6 months-breast milk or formula
6 months-solid foods can be introduced
12 months-most calories should come from solid foods, still drinking breast milk or milk
Babies will eat through the night-about every 3 hours. When a baby weighs about 12
lbs., they no longer need a late-night feeding, as their stomachs are big enough to get
them through the night.

37. Nutritional Concerns
Malnutrition: inadequate nutrition
 It’s important for baby to get nutritious, well-balanced meals.
 They should get to eat when they are hungry-not just during regular
meal times.
Allergies-tend to run in families. Symptoms can include
puffy, itchy eyes or hives, up to anaphylactic shock: life-
threatening condition which can prevent a person from
breathing.
 Excessive fussiness, vomiting almost all food after eating, watery
stools can be signs of allergies in babies.

38. Baby’s Health
Teething: the process of
the teeth pushing their way
through the gums.
When teeth start to
appear, they should be
cleaned with a moist
cloth.

39. Baby’s Health
Regular Check-ups
 The first checkup is done within a day of birth-includes a
thorough check, including blood test.
 Weight, length, head circumference are tracked over the next
year.
 Additional check-ups occur at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, and 12 months.
Illness to look for-irritability, lack of energy, constipation,
nasal congestion, persistent coughing, diarrhea, rashes,
vomiting, fever.

40. Baby’s Health
Immunizations: giving the body a small amount of a
disease-carrying germ so the body can build resistance
to the disease.
 Most commonly done through a vaccine: the disease carrying
germ is injected into the body.
 Very important part of caring for a baby’s health.

41. Baby Care Skills
Create a Pamphlet for new parents
Dressing
Bathing
Diapering
Feeding
Sleeping