The Birth Process

• Can be considered a critical period

• anoxia

• low birth weight

• premature birth

• malnourishment

• Long-term Effects of Birth Complications

• Mild anoxia

• Prolonged anoxia

• Preterm infants

• Small for date

Very Long-Term Effects: Werner, E. E., (1989). "Children of the Garden Island"

• Followed development of 698 infants born on Kauai in 1955
• 69 -- moderate prenatal or perinatal complications
• 23 -- severe stress (only 14 survived to age of 2)
• infants exposed to mild stress
• infants not exposed to early stress

• Examined:
• long-term effects of birth complications
• effects of family environments

• Results: 2 Major Trends

• One Surprising Finding
• Of the 201 "vulnerable" children, 72 developed normally

• sources of resilience:

• Depends on how the environment responds

The Newborn: Appearance

• face somewhat flattened

• covered with vernix
• head much larger than the rest of the body

• head may be mis-shapen in first days – why?

• thin trunk and skinny arms and legs

Newborn Assessment: Apgar Scale

• Occur 1 minute and 5 minutes after birth

• Ratings of:

• Scores range from 0 to 10 (2 points for each sign)

• 7 or higher:

• 3 or lower:

1. quiet sleep (NREM) -- 33%

• 50% of a newborn’s total daily sleep

• Autostimulation Theory

 

3. drowsiness -- 4 %

4. alert awake -- 11%

5. active awake -- 11%

6. crying -- 8 %
 

Why are these important?

Crying:

• How Much?

• What Does It Mean?

• What Should You Do?

• Turns head to __________

• Prefers ________ voices to _________  voices

• Discriminates __________ from other sounds

• Prefers __________ smell to smell of sugar or water

• Can imitate ___________

• CNS is ready to ___________

• ___________ has already occurred:

• Newborns are ready to engage in social interaction:

• Differences in how full term and premature infants respond to stimulation

• Newborn infants need stimulation to develop