PHYSICAL GROWTH & DEVELOPMENT

INFANCY

GROWTH

Growth deals exclusively with the physical aspect of the child.Example :A child grows taller.

DEVELOPMENT

Development deals with the ability to utilise, use and interact with its surrounding.

Example.A child develops the ability to walk, this is an ability and means that child can now interact with its environment and has thus developed mobility.

PHYSICAL GROWTH

• When infants are born, most of their body mass is in their head.

• As they grow older, the rest of their bodies catch up.

• They develop their motor skills from the center of the body outward and from their head to their feet, they also grow and gain mass in that order.

• Babies grow first in their chest and trunk and then in their arms and legs

• Over the first year of life, babies' bones and skeletons harden.

• When their bones harden, the skeleton is better able to support their weight during activities such as crawling and walking.

• Babies have "soft spots" in their skull but at the age of 2, babies' skulls are as hard as adult skulls.

• The physical structure of the brain develops rapidly as well.

• The human brain triples in weight by age three and quadruples in weight by age fourteen.

• First year, babies continue to increase their level of body fat to maintain their body temperature.

• As babies grow in size and begin to build muscle, this baby fat will begin to disappear.

• The infant's length does not change as rapidly as its weight, for the infant's length at birth is already 75 percent of what it will be at two years of age.

• 3 months : 2.5 inches and 3 pounds. • 4 to 6 months: Another 2.5 inches and 4

pounds. • 7 and 9 months: 2.5 inches and 4 pounds. • 10 and 12 months :Another 2.5 inches and

another 3 pounds. • Second year : Grow about 1 inch and 2 pounds

about every 3 months. • Slows after age 2 years.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

• Infant reflexes begin to fade as babies use their senses to interact with the environment and as their bodies grow stronger and mature.

• Motor skills develop from the center of the body outward and from head to feet.

• At 2 months, infants' backs continue to strengthen.

• They are able to raise their head and chest up off the ground and rest their body on their elbows when they're lying on their stomachs.

• They will also kick and bend their legs while lying on their stomachs; this helps for crawling.

• At 3 months, they can hold themselves up for longer periods, and begin to hold their bodies in symmetry.

• At 4 months, they can maintain control of their head and hold it steady while they are sitting up with help or lying on their belly.

• At 5 months, babies will wiggle all their limbs while they lie on their belly; this strengthens their crawling muscles.

• At 7 months babies begin to crawl.• At 8 months, babies can sit up by

themselves for extended periods and can pull themselves to their feet while they hold onto something for support.

• At 6 months, they can sit up by themselves for brief periods.• Begin to put some weight on

their legs as they are held upright with some support.

• At 9 months, babies can not only sit independently for a long time, but also reach and play with toys while maintaining their balance. • Babies can pull themselves up into a

stand without support.• A critical time for exercising these

muscle groups.

• At 10 months, they can stand on their own for extended periods. –They are making progress toward

walking, picking up and putting down their feet while they stand.

• At 11 months, the ability to walk improves as infants walk while holding onto caregivers' hands.

• At 12 months, babies making their own first toddling steps.

• At 15 months, babies begin to climb stairs, high chairs, and furniture.

• At 18 months, toddlers' balance becomes more stable.– They can move more easily on their feet around

objects and begin walking backwards, sideways, in circles, and even running.

• At second year, toddlers begin to develop complex gross motor skills. E.g.–Throwing objects for distance and

kicking. • By age 24 months, they can jump in place

and balance on one foot for a short period and may begin peddling their first tricycle.

• However, they are still refining their ability to stop themselves once they get started.

• Around this time, they may run into a few walls or unintentionally walk into a dangerous situation.

• Simply because their brain can not get the message to their feet fast enough to stop moving. ( Caregiver roles to take care the children).