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Unit 18 Assignment- Working with babies from birth to 12 months
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Malnutrition
There are a variety of different factors that will affect a baby’s health and development in the first year of their life. “Malnutrition is a serious condition that occurs when a person’s diet does not contain enough nutrients to meet the demands of their body” (NHS, Choices- Your Health, 2011). One factor could be is malnutrition when babies are not getting enough food and not the right amount of the correct foods and nutrients in their diet. If a baby has malnutrition it can significantly affect a baby's mental and physical growth and it could affect the baby permanently even if the child was starting to eat much better. All babies should either be breastfeed or they should be having formula especially from birth up to the age of 6 months. This should be the major source of food for a baby at least up until their first birthday. If you breast feed your baby they may become deficient in some nutrients, these could be vitamin D or iron, and this is if the mother is having inadequate amounts of these nutrients. If the baby had Vitamin D deficiencies it can then result in them getting rickets which will then affect the growth of the baby’s bones. If the baby has a low intake or iron then this could result in the baby having slower growth overall which will the consequence in a delay of the babies mental development because their tissues and brain might not be getting enough oxygen from their blood “People with malnutrition lack the nutrients necessary for their bodies to grow and stay healthy” (Teens Health, 1995-2013).
Disabilities and Birth Defects
If you find out that your baby has a disability it can be very difficult for the mother to deal with when the baby has been diagnosed that is why it is important for them to find out more information and get some advice on the disability. If your baby has a disability it will have a strong effect on the development of your baby. Babies that have genetic defects which is when it is passed down from family generations for example down syndrome or cystic fibrosis may then have a delay in their physical development, mental develop and also some social areas. Disabilities can be something you will notice straight away at birth or it may not be so obvious until you notice the delay in your baby’s development or whether the doctor notices it when you take your baby for checkups "Disabilities may be obvious at birth, or may not become apparent until a delay in development is noticed by parents or doctors" (Livestrong.com, 2010).
Prematurity
If you have a premature baby it means that they are born before their due date which will be any time before 37 weeks of pregnancy. If your baby is born premature will commonly grow and encounter their developmental milestones at a slower pace than babies that have a gestational age of over 38 weeks. A premature baby will begin their life smaller as well as being less developed than babies that are born at the right amount of weeks. This will result in premature babies having difficulty with problems for example having immature lungs "Babies who are born prematurely generally grow and meet developmental milestones more slowly than infants with a gestational age of over 38 weeks" (Livestrong.com, 2010).
Social Factors
Some babies may have difficulty with social factors when they are developing. So for a baby to develop in the correct way they should be always be encouraged to have consistent interaction with parents, carers and other children. If their are signs that a baby is being neglected they will find it extremely difficult to succeed which means they will experience developmental delays. Babies development will be affected not only by being physically neglected but such as when you do not feed your baby regularly on a daily basis and babies will also experience social, mental and emotional neglect which will affect their development in many different ways. It is so important that babies are getting a constant loving touch, attention to their own needs and emotional interaction like smiling or talking to them to thrive and develop in the correct way "For a baby to develop properly, she should have regular interaction with parents and caregivers. Babies who are neglected exhibit a failure to thrive and experience developmental delays" (Livestrong.com, 2010). If this is not happening then the baby will feel alone and unloved which will affect their growth and develop extremely.
Diseases
There are many different diseases that babies could be at risk from contracting which will affect their growth and development "Infections and internal diseases, such as allergies, can cause developmental delays in infants" (Livestrong.com, 2010). If a baby has an infection or an internal disease for example allergies could cause babies to have developmental delays. If your baby has any of these diseases below will also result in them having development problems. These diseases are:
·Urinary tract infections
·Gastroesophogeal reflux disease
·Diarrhea
·Respiratory illnesses
·Parasitic infections
These diseases and illnesses will affect a baby’s development because it will prevent the baby's body from being able to break down the nutrients from the food they are eating.
Supporting healthy brain development
Now that your baby is born it will start to become clear that what a child will experience in the first years of their life, this will then extremely influences how the babies brain will develop and how the baby will react with the world around them through their life. Parents will play an important role in a baby’s life in providing them with the nurturing and the stimulation they need.
Eyes
For the reason that your vision will play such a vital role of many different factors of the baby's life, the consequences of a baby having vision problems can be quite devastating for the baby's parents to deal with. "While many of the following factors are not necessarily relevant to children early on, these are factors that should be limited throughout life" (Kids Health Care, 2008). Various eye problems will be symptoms of conditions that are found in other parts of the body. This may then result in a dietary deficiency, different environmental factors or a combination of them both. For example a common symptom of hay fever is when you baby had itchy and teary eyes and the seriousness of the hay fever will vary depending on what your babies diet is like and the quality of it.
Parenting styles
Parenting styles will have a big affect on baby’s health and development this is because the way you bring up your child will determine the outcome on how your child will development and the health of your child. For example there are three types of parenting styles which are called:
- ·Authoritarian- a authoritarian parent would be a parent that would be quite demanding, strict and expect a lot from their children, they will have no tolerance for questions or for breaking rules.
- Authorative- If a parent is Authorative they will be the middle of the road and negotiate and talk to children to develop rules.
- ·Permissive- If a parent is permissive they will be more relaxed and they will have no set rules or guidelines and they don't always have all control over their children.
So if a parent was an authoritarian they would be stricter with their babies development, it would mean that the babies may be made to do certain things and they would be strict on what they want for their baby. This may then affect the babies time if they are put into a day nursery. It could mean that the parent might be strict on how much food the baby eats and what they eat e.g. healthy food and no sugar, having certain nappies, having certain amount of ounces if they have a bottle or how long their baby sleeps for. This could be good for a child's health and development because it is showing that the parents want the best for their baby and they want to them to have the best health and develop at the right rate for their age, but it could also not be good for the babies health and development because babies need a balanced diet so they should be having some foods with sugar in but just not too much of it and also babies need enough sleep to grow, develop and be healthy so they should be allowed to sleep until they wake up. Authoritarian parents would defiantly have rules and a strict routine for their baby making sure that everything is done right and in the correct way not forgetting to do anything. I think a baby that has a authoritarian parent that they may struggle to make friends and have proper relationships with other children and adults because they are being told to much by their parents on what they are allowed to do and not to do which will be difficult for a baby especially when they are learning to talk. But by having this parenting style I do think it will help a baby to more confident which is always a positive attribute when babies are developing.
If a parent was an Authorative they wouldn’t be as strict but they still wouldn't let their child/baby get away with anything and they would still care about their baby’s health and development. Parents would give babies more of a choice in things that they do and they wouldn't be so strict on what they would be allowed to do in the setting if their parents chose to put them into a setting at any early age. Authorative parents wouldn’t be so strict on what their baby will eat not like an Authoritarian parent would; they properly wouldn’t mind them having sugar as long as they don't have too much. They would just have normal nappies, they would still be the same with the amount of milk they had, but I think they would want their baby to have as much sleep as they need and they wouldn’t want them to have a set time but just for them to wake up when they have had enough sleep. I think this way of parenting is good because it gives babies more freedom to do what they find and sometimes I find that they develop better that way because they are exploring and learning new things from what they want to do which means they would be able to learn from mistakes rather than just doing everything right. I also think this is properly this best style of parenting because babies will be getting a bit of both for example having more freedom but on the other hand still have some rules and making sure they are developing right and they are always healthy. I think they would still have rules for the babies and they would have a routine so that their babies day would be structured and so they would understand how they day would work.
If a parent was permissive they wouldn’t be strict at all and they wouldn’t be bothered by what their baby would do. They would not be strict how their child would behavior or act. They may not be bothered where their child was with their development and they may not pay a lot of attention to health of their baby for example they may put their baby in the same nappy because they can't afford more nappies or because they can't be bothered to change them or they may give their babies food that is bad for them and not trying to give them a balanced diet. They would have no rules or routine for their baby and they may always shout at their baby if they do something wrong which is the wrong way of showing how babies to behave which then could affect the babies behavior when they grow up and start to talk. I think this style of parenting would be extremely worrying for a baby’s health and development because they wouldn’t be getting the right attention they need to make sure they are developing and staying healthy. In extreme cases with this parenting style babies maybe being neglected by their parents which could result in them not developing properly at and being more at risk from having health problems when they are older. I don't think this style of parenting is very at all for baby’s health and development and I think that it will affect their health and development hugely and could make their baby very unhappy.
Emily Reeves
