Events of infancy:
The stage of infancy starts from birth and ends approximately at the age of two. It is also called "babyhood". Infancy and early childhood development are periods of great alterations in a living organism, and they are perhaps the most determining years of development.
During infancy, a great deal of initial learning occurs. This learning is provided through environmental signals, such as a parent’s behavior. Very basic skills are practiced during this time period, such as crying, nursing, co-ordination and the skill to represent images and objects with words. An important influence in the child's life at this stage is the parents. It is very common to see a child at the ages of seven to nine months old become upset when they are separated from their primary caregiver. This process is known as attachment, and is important in determining how a child will behave in future relationships as they mature.
Infancy is the shortest and important of all developmental periods. During the first year of child’s life, he will go from an unexperienced newborn that has little motor control to an on the threshold of toddling baby. This first stage of child development includes rapid bodily growth that supports his new abilities. By the end of the infant stage, children also have the fine motor, or hand, skills to use a claw grasp, pick up and put down small objects. As a child reaches between four and six months, he will begin to purposefully gibber and laugh or cry with emotion. By twelve months old, an infant may also have the ability to say simple words, such as "mama," and understand a limited vocabulary of basics, such as "no." The first year is a period of rapid development for motor, language, social, sensory and thinking skills. By the end of the first year, children usually are able to crawl, sit without support. Some children start to walk at the end of first year. Then they gradually start to talk and logical thinking begins to build at the end of second year. Developmental progress may be measured in the following domains: physical, cognitive, emotional, and social. For example, certain common physical objectives often mark a child's physical and motor development. Psychology theorists like Jean Piaget and Erik Erikson proposed stage theories for other aspects of development.
Physical development:
Most newborns initially lose their weight just after birth but gradually they gain weight after two weeks. Then they double it and triple it by the end of first year.
All infants grow at their own speed. Also, infants have different growth spurts and fluctuations in their rate of weight gain.
Motor development:
All infants develop according to the same sequence of events. For example, all infants learn to sit before they learn to walk. However, some children reach developmental milestones such as sitting and walking early, and others later.
Infants generally develop from top to bottom. The first thing to develop is head control and strengthening of the neck muscles. Later, hand coordination develops, which allows a baby to pull himself forward before learning how to crawl. Once a baby has better control of his lower body, he can use his hands and knees to crawl. Infants also have "soft areas" in their skull because some parts of the skull haven't merged together yet. By age 2 years, babies' skulls are as hard as adult skulls, but in the first months, caregivers need to be careful how they handle the baby and protect their heads.
Infants grow exponentially in the first 2 years. In the first 3 months, they grow up to 2.5 inches and 3 pounds. Between the ages 4 to 6 months, they grow another 2.5 inches and gain an average of 4 pounds. Between 7 and 9 months, they grow an average of 2.5 inches and 4 pounds. Between 10 and 12 months, they grow another 2.5 inches and another 3 pounds. During the second year, infants grow about 1 inch and 2 pounds about every 3 months. Some exceptions are there which are based on babies’ nutritional status and other unhealthy factors. Children's growth slows considerably after age two years.
A baby develops as his central nervous system grown-up. Along the way, many of the primitive reflexes he had as a baby, such as the grasp and walking reflexes, are lost. These primitive reflexes need to disappear in order for a baby to learn to move himself voluntarily. Also, while a young baby wildly moves his arms and legs in every direction, an older baby learns to make specific responses.
Vision, hearing and communication
Over first year of life, baby’s eyesight, hearing, and communication skills will develop. While newborn babies can only see things about 25 cm (10 inches) in front of them at first, their sight improves to near adult levels by the age of eight months. Newborn babies can hear rather well at birth and this gets better throughout the first year, along with their capacity to respond to sound and their communication skills.
Cognitive development:
During the first two years of life, babies(infants) is not increasing physically but also mentally (cognitively).Every day, they are creating new connections and pathways between nerve cells both within their brains, and between their brains and bodies during their interaction with environment. While physical growth and change is easily observed and measured in precise terms such as in inches and pounds, cognitive change and development is a little harder to verify as clearly. Therefore, much about what experts know about mental and cognitive development is based on the careful observation of developmental theorists and their theories, such as Piaget's theory of cognitive development and Erickson's psychosocial stages.
According to Piaget, newborns interact with their environment entirely through reflexive behaviors. They do not think about what they're going to do, but rather follow their makeup (genes) and involuntary reactions to get what they need: food, air, and attention. Piaget believed that as babies begin to grow and learn about their environment through their senses, they begin to engage in intentional, goal-directed behaviors. In other words, they begin to think about what they want to achieve, how to achieve it, and then they do it. This is also when infants develop object permanence, which is the capability to understand that something still exists even if it can't be seen. These two milestones, goal-directed actions and object permanence, are the highlights and major events of infant cognitive development.
Emotional development:
The emotional development in infants can be explained based on the infant's age growth. Here are some stages that show how infants normally develop emotionally:
Within your baby's first 3 months, infants will have positive responses. Infants start to feel comforted by someone familiar, become quiet when you pick them up, begin smiling and responding to social stimulation.
At three to six months, infant can start making warm smiles and laughter. They can recognize familiar faces, seek comfort and cry when uncomfortable. They express excitement by waving her arms and legs. They can be able to sense the difference between people based on how they look, feel, or sound like. They can also smile when looking at them in a mirror, recognize her name and enjoy seeing other babies.
At six to nine months, little ones will be able to express emotions. The will start to respond when someone talk to them or make gestures. They will also start understanding others emotions. They will show displeasure when they lose a toy and be comfortable around familiar persons but anxious about strangers.
At ten to twelve months, in infants, self-esteem will start to develop in them, respond to positive affirmation by clapping and become more aware of heights. They will also show various moods such as happy, sad, and angry. They will also start laughing aloud, developing a sense of humour. They can sometimes be cooperative and sometimes uncooperative. They will try to gain others approval and avoid disapproval and display temper tantrums. They will cling to one parent or both.
Social development:
According to Erickson’s theory of social development, the psychosocial stage occurs between birth and one year of age and is the most basic stage in life.
• From birth to two months, an infant is fully dependent on others or caregivers for basic needs so the development of trust in infants is based on the reliability and quality of the infant’s caregivers.
• Child will be confident and safe in the world if he develops trust successfully.
Incompatible, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting caregivers contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they look after. If a child fails to develop trust, a fear and belief that world is inconsistent will develop in him.
Around nine and twelve months, babies become more involved in exploration. This drive often corresponds with their learning to crawl and/or walk, which leads to new adventures further away from nurturing caretakers. They begin to point to objects, an important developmental sign that demonstrates their ability to create a shared focus with another. This pointing thus allows interactions to expand to include objects and actions, enlarging babies’ ability to learn through more complex connections.
Between nine and eighteen months, babies develop a more complicated understanding not only of other people and things, but also themselves.
Nine to eighteen months is also an instant in which stranger anxiety begins in infants where babies hesitate with less familiar adults. They will also cry and show anger when their primary caregivers go away from room and put them under the control of others.