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Infant Development (Newborn and Baby) – Immediately following birth, a newborn will lose approximately 5%
to 10% of their birth weight. By the age of 4 to 6 months, a newborn’s weight should double from birth and will
slow during the second half of their first year of their life.
Toddler Development (Preschool Years) – Between ages 1 and 5, toddlers will gain approximately five pounds
each year.
Childhood Development (Middle School Years) – Although your child’s growth will remain steady, once he or
she begins puberty they will experience a significant growth spurt, approximately around age 9.
Adolescent Development (Teenage Years) – A child’s growth will typically peak by mid to late teens when their
skeletal system has fully formed.
A child’s nutritional needs will also alter corresponding to changes in growth. As an infant, there is a greater need for
caloric intake than that of a preschooler or middle school child. Nutritional needs will increase again as child reaches
adolescence.
Proper nutrition is not only important for a child’s health and growth patterns, but also for their mental development.
Children may lack energy or feel tired if they do not receive a sufficient diet throughout the day.
At birth, your baby's brain contains 100 billion neurons (as many as there are stars in the Milky Way)!
During his first years, he will grow trillions of brain-cell connections, called neural synapses.
The rule for brain wiring is "use it or lose it." Synapses that are not "wired together" through
stimulation are pruned and lost during a child's school years. Although an infant's brain does have
some neurological hard wiring (such as the ability to learn any language), it is more pliable and more
vulnerable than an adult's brain. And, amazingly, a toddler's brain has twice as many neural
connections as an adult's.
When you provide loving, language-enriched experiences for your baby, you are giving his brain's
neural connections and pathways more chances to become wired together. In turn, he will acquire
rich language, reasoning, and planning skills.
1. Give your baby a physically healthy start before he is born. Stay healthy while
you are pregnant, and be aware that certain drugs can be destructive to your
baby's brain in utero. Many children who were drug-abused in the womb struggle
with severe learning problems and suddenly act with unprovoked aggressive
behaviors. Studies have also revealed that cigarette smoking during pregnancy
causes lower fourth-grade reading scores.
3. Play games that involve the hands (patty-cake, peekaboo, this little piggy).
Babies respond well to learning simple sequential games.
4. Be attentive. When your baby points, be sure to follow with your gaze and remark
on items or events of interest to her. This "joint attention" confirms for your baby
how important her interests and observations are to you.
5. Foster an early passion for books. Choose books with large and colorful
pictures, and share your baby's delight in pointing and making noises — say, the
animal sounds to go along with farm pictures. Modulate the tone of your voice;
simplify or elaborate on story lines; encourage toddlers to talk about books. We
recommend these books for sounds and wordplay. Remember that building your
baby's receptive language (understanding spoken words) is more important than
developing his expressive language (speaking) in infancy.
6. Use diaper time to build your baby's emotional feelings of having a "lovable
body." Stroke your baby's tummy and hair. Studies have shown that babies who
are not often touched have brains that are smaller than normal for their age. Also,
when diapering your baby, you are at the ideal 12 to 18 inches from her eyes to
attract attention to your speech.
8. Respond promptly when your baby cries. Soothe, nurture, cuddle, and
reassure him so that you build positive brain circuitry in the limbic area of the brain,
which relates to emotions. Your calm holding and cuddling, and your day-to-day
intimate engagement with your baby, signal emotional security to the brain.
9. Build trust by being attentive and focused. Babies who are securely attached to
you emotionally will be able to invest more life energy in the pleasures of
exploration, learning, and discovery.
10. Use body massage to decrease your infant's stress and enhance her feelings of
well-being and emotional security. Loving touches promote growth in young
babies. Research has shown that premature babies who are massaged three
times daily are ready to leave the hospital days earlier than babies who do not
receive massages.
11. Enlist help from your toddler at clean-up times — a good way to practice
categorization. Toddlers learn that stuffed animals have one place to go for "night-
night" time; cars, trucks, and other vehicles also have their special storage place.
Children need to learn about sorting into categories and seriation (placing things in
order; for example, from littlest to biggest) as part of their cognitive advancement
in preschool.
12. Set up a safe environment for your crawling baby or toddler. Spatial learning is
important, and your mobile child will begin to understand parameters such as
under, over, near, and far. He will be able to establish mental maps of his
environment and a comfortable relationship with the world in which he lives.
13. Sing songs such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Ring-Around-the-Rosy." The body
motions and finger play will help your baby integrate sounds with large and small
motor actions. Songs also enhance your child's learning of rhythms, rhymes, and
language patterns.
14. Match your tempo to your child's temperament. Some children adjust easily to
strange situations, some are bold and impulsive, and some are quite shy. Go with
the flow as you try to increase a shy child's courage and comfort level. Help a
highly active child safely use his wonderful energy while learning impulse control.
Your acceptance will give him the comfort he needs to experiment and learn freely.
15. Make meals and rest times positive. Say the names of foods out loud as your
baby eats. Express pleasure as she learns to feed herself, no matter how messy
the initial attempts may be. This will wire in good associations with mealtime and
eating. Battles and nagging about food can lead to negative emotional brain
patterns.
16. Provide clear responses to your baby's actions. A young, developing brain
learns to make sense of the world if you respond to your child's behavior in
predictable, reassuring, and appropriate ways. Be consistent.
18. Model empathic feelings for others. Use "teachable moments" when someone
seems sad or upset to help your toddler learn about feelings, caring, sharing, and
kindness. The more brain connections you create for empathic responses and
gentle courtesies, the more these brain circuits will be wired in. This helps not only
with language and cognitive learning, but with positive emotional skills, too!
19. Arrange supervised play with messy materials, such as water, sand, and even
mud. This will teach your toddler about the physics and properties of mixtures and
textures, liquids and solids. During bath time, the brain wires in knowledge about
water, slippery soap, and terry towel textures. Sensory experiences are grist for
the learning brain.
20. Express joy and interest in your baby. Let your body language, your shining
eyes, your attentiveness to babbling and baby activities, and your gentle caresses
and smiles validate the deeply lovable nature of your little one.
Nervous system diseases
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease affects the brain functions, memory and behaviour. Find out about symptoms, how it’s diagnosed,
and how to help delay its onset.
Bell's palsy
Bell’s palsy is a sudden weakness or paralysis of facial muscles, usually on one side of the face. Learn how to boost the
chances of a full recovery.
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy damages the nervous system and muscular control, affecting movement and coordination. Know the risk
factors in pregnancy and birth.
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a long-term condition that affects 1 in 50 Australians. Learn more about the causes, how it is diagnosed and
the types of seizures.
Multiple sclerosis MS
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system. Learn about the types of MS and how
the symptoms can be managed.
Neurofibromatosis
Tumours - usually benign - form with this quite common, manageable condition. Know more about living with
neurofibromatosis and where to get support.
Parkinson’s disease
Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include tremor or shaking. Find out more about Parkinson's and about what can be
done to treat these symptoms.
Sciatica
Sciatica is a condition that causes pain in the back and legs. Understand how the pain develops and know some of the
causes of sciatica.
Shingles
Shingles is a painful rash caused by the chickenpox virus. Find out how to recognise the symptoms and what treatments
are available.