Prenatal

The prenatal development of a baby is a process that occurs in three stages. The first two
weeks after the baby is conceived is known as the germinal stage. The second period is known as
the embryonic period, which consists of the third week to the eighth week of pregnancy. The
third and final stage is the fetal period, which is from the ninth week until the birth of the baby.
During the prenatal development, the baby goes through physical, language, and cognitive
developmental milestones. Therefore, it is very important for a woman to take care of herself
during pregnancy in order to increase her chances of having a healthy baby. There are times
when other factors such as genetics create a risk for an unhealthy baby, but creating a healthy
environment and staying healthy greatly increases the chances of the baby not having any
complications, or being born with problems or disorder.
Physical Development
There are several physical developmental milestones that typically developing children
should attain during the prenatal development. The fetal stage begins in the 9
th
week and extends
up to 9 months. At 3 months, breathing movements are seen and the fetus demonstrates the
sucking and Babinski reflex. At 4 months, some movement may be noticed, and lanugo is
present on the fetus. At 6 months, the mother feels movement, and the fetus can open and close
its eyes, and the heartbeat is clear. The last 3 months of pregnancy are important because this is
the time of rapid weight increase (Lefrancois, 2012).
Language Development
In addition to physical developmental milestones, there are language developmental
milestones that typically developing children should attain during the prenatal period of
development. During the third trimester of the prenatal period, a baby can hear their mothers
voice clearly, and they learn the rhythms, tones, and sequences of whatever language the mother
speaks. These phonological patterns are experienced as basic parts of the mothers moods and
activities. By building up distinct patterns in the brain, the baby obtains a head start on the
grammatical outlines, structures, and uses of the mothers language (Childs, 1998).
Cognitive Development
Finally, in addition to physical and language developmental milestones, there are
cognitive developmental milestones that typically developing children should attain during the
prenatal period of development. The last 3 months of pregnancy are important to the brain
development. Some people experts claim that a babys cognitive development can be stimulated
in the prenatal stage because they can hear sounds from about 23 weeks of pregnancy, and after
they are born, they can recognize the same sounds they heard in the uterus. They say that the
baby not only passively listens in the uterus, but they also form associations with the sounds they
hear. For example, the baby may relax when they hear a sound or tune that relaxes the mother.
Other experts say that the baby is busy growing and developing inside the womb and that
environment is the only environment that the baby knows, and because the environment is
different outside the womb, there is very little that can be done to meaningfully stimulate
cognitive development. Because the mothers life follows certain patterns, the baby will receive
regular stimulation, but reading, singing, and classical music exposure to the fetus is totally up to
the parent. These things can provide different associations for the baby, but it will not stretch the
babys ability to learn (Einon, 2011).
Factors That Influence
One social factor that could influence the prenatal stage of development could be the health of
the mother. The mother could possibly have a sexually transmitted disease and it could cause
damage to fetus that could lead to low birth weight, premature birth, or poor health issues for the
baby at birth. One cultural factor that could influence the prenatal stage of development could be
the fact that the mother is not allowed to do anything while she is pregnant. She could have a
servant that takes care of her every need, and as a result, the baby is born with health problems
because the mother was not active enough during pregnancy. The baby could experience
complications during birth because the mother did not get enough exercise because in her
culture, the mothers were not allowed to do anything but sit around with their feet propped up all
day.
References
Childs, Marshall. (1998). Prenatal Language Learning.Vol.13 Issue 2. Retrieved from:
https://birthpsychology.com/journals/volume-13-issue-2#.U9dCiPldWSo.
Einon, Dorothy. (2011). Can I help my baby learn anything before birth? Retrieved from:
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/x6715/can-i-help-my-baby-learn-anything-before-
birth#ixzz38oSNtdBk.
Lefranois, G. R. (2012). Childrens journeys: Exploring early childhood. San Diego, CA:

Bridgepoint Education, Inc.