Tag: Child development

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Pediatric

Development of Toddler

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Introduction:
Brain fact: Brains are ready for learning from birth.
The human brain function and development grows amazingly fast, starting from day one in the womb. By age 6, your baby’s brain will be almost adult-sized. Even at birth, babies’ brains contain millions of brain cells, which are called neurons.

Brain fact: Brain connections are strengthened with experience.
Brain connections are called synapses. Thousands and thousands of them are formed with everyday experiences. Synapses are crucial because they transmit brain impulses, which control body functions, thinking, feeling, learning, memory, and language.

Your toddler has a new toy, which he is exploring with lots of energy. His brain cells are firing away, and new synapses may occur. Toddlers‘ brains will make many more synapses than needed for good brain functioning. Synapses that are used frequently will be strengthened and remain. Those that are not will eventually disappear. So by hugging and reading to your toddler, you can encourage the growth and strengthening of brain connections.

When a baby is born, parents must consider their most important job is to take proper care  of their child, leaving aside    every other important  job  in   life.

Toddlers are children ages 1 – 3.

THEORIES
Jean Piaget, in the cognitive (thought) development theory, includes the following:

•Early use of instruments or tools
•Following visual (then later, invisible) displacement (moving from one place to another) of objects
•Understanding that objects and people are there even if you can’t see them (object and people permanence)
Erik H. Erikson‘s personal-social development theory says the toddler stage represents Autonomy (independence) vs. Shame or Doubt. The child learns to adjust to society’s demands, while trying to maintain independence and a sense of self.

These milestones are typical of children in the toddler stages. Some variation is normal. If you have questions about your child’s development, contact your health care provider.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
The following are signs of expected physical development in a toddler:

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS (use of large muscles in the legs and arms)
•Stands alone well by 12 months
•Walks well by 12 – 15 months (if the child is not walking by 18 months, he or she should be evaluated by a health care provider)
•Learns to walk backwards and up steps with help at about 16 – 18 months
•Throws a ball overhand and kicks a ball forward at about 18 – 24 months
•Jumps in place by about 24 months
•Rides a tricycle and stands briefly on one foot by about 36 months

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FINE MOTOR SKILLS (use of small muscles in hands and fingers)……click & see
•Makes tower of three cubes by around 15 months
•Scribbles by 15 – 18 months
•Can use spoon and drink from a cup by 24 months
•Can copy a circle by 36 months

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LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

click & see

•Uses 2 – 3 words (other than Mama or Dada) at 12 – 15 months

•Understands and follows simple commands (“bring to Mommy”) at 14 – 16 months
•Names pictures of items and animals at 18 – 24 months
•Points to named body parts at 18 – 24 months
•Begins to say his or her own name at 22 – 24 months
•Combines 2 words at 16 to 24 months — there is a range of ages at which children are first able to combine words into sentences; if a toddler cannot do so by 24 months, parents should consult their health care provider
•Knows gender and age by 36 months.

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SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT…....click & see
•Indicates some needs by pointing at 12 – 15 months
•Looks for help when in trouble by 18 months
•Helps to undress and put things away by 18 – 24 months
•Listens to stories when shown pictures and can tell about immediate experiences by 24 months
•Can engage in pretend play and simple games by 24 – 36 months

BEHAVIOR
Toddlers are always trying to be more independent. This creates not only special safety concerns, but discipline challenges. The child must be taught — in a consistent manner — the limits of appropriate vs. inappropriate behavior.

When toddlers try out activities they can’t quite do yet, they can get frustrated and angry. Breath-holding, crying, screaming, and temper tantrums may be daily occurrences.

It is important for a child to learn from experiences and to be able to rely on consistent boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviors.

Toddlers always imitate their parents and so  toddlers behavior with others depends  on their parents behavior .
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SAFETY

TODDLER SAFETY IS MOST IMPORTANT
•It is important for parents to recognize that the child can now walk, run, climb, jump, and explore. This new stage of movement makes child-proofing the home essential. Window guards, gates on stairways, cabinet locks, toilet seat locks, electric outlet covers, and other safety features are essential.
•As during the infancy period, place the toddler in a safety restraint (toddler car seat) when riding in a car.
•Do not leave a toddler unattended for even short periods of time. Remember, more accidents occur during the toddler years than at any other stage of childhood.
•Introduce and strictly stick to rules about not playing in streets or crossing without an adult.
•Falls are a major cause of injury. Keep gates or doors to stairways closed, and use guards for all windows above the ground floor. Do not leave chairs or ladders in areas that are likely to tempt the toddler into climbing up to explore new heights. Use corner guards on furniture in areas where the toddler is likely to walk, play, or run.
•Childhood poisonings are a frequent source of illness and death during the toddler years. Keep all medications in a locked cabinet. Keep all toxic household products (polishes, acids, cleaning solutions, chlorine bleach, lighter fluid, insecticides, or poisons) in a locked cabinet or closet. Many household plants may cause illness if eaten. Toad stools and other garden plants may cause serious illness or death. Get a list of these common plants from your pediatrician.
•If a family member owns a firearm, make sure it is unloaded and locked up in a secure place.
•Keep toddlers away from the kitchen with a safety gate, or place them in a playpen or high chair. This will eliminate the danger of burns from pulling hot foods off the stove or bumping into the hot oven door.
•Toddlers love to play in water, but should never be allowed to do so alone. A toddler may drown even in shallow water in a bathtub. Parent-child swimming lessons can be another safe and enjoyable way for toddlers to play in water. Never leave a child unattended near a pool, open toilet, or bathtub. Toddlers cannot learn how to swim and cannot be independent near any body of water.

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PARENTING TIPS
•The toddler years are the time to begin instilling values, reasoning, and incentives in the child, so that they learn accepted rules of behavior. It is important for parents to be consistent both in modeling behavior (behaving the way you want your child to behave),and in addressing appropriate versus inappropriate behavior in the child. Recognize and reward positive behavior. You can introduce time-outs for negative behavior, or for going beyond the limits you set for your child.
•The toddler’s favorite word may seem to be “NO!!!” It is important for parents not to fall into a pattern of negative behavior with yelling, spanking, and threatening of their own.
•Teach children the proper names of body parts.
•Stress the unique, individual qualities of the child.
•Teach concepts of please, thank you, and sharing with others.
•Read to the child on a regular basis — it will enhance the development of verbal skills.
•Toddlers thrive on regularity. Major changes in their routine are challenging for them. Toddlers should have regular nap, bed, snack, and meal times.
•Toddlers should not be allowed to eat many snacks throughout the day. Multiple snack times tend to suppress their appetite for regular meals, which tend to be more balanced.
•Travel and guests can be expected to disrupt the child’s routine and make them more irritable. The best responses to these situations are reassurance and reestablishing routine in a calm way.

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose.

Resources:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002010.htm
http://www.enfamil.com/app/iwp/enf10/content.do?dm=enf&id=/Consumer_Home3/Toddlers3/Toddlers_Articles/brainDevelopment&iwpst=B2C&ls=0&cm_mmc=paid%20search-_-Enfagrow-_-Google-_-2010&csred=1&r=3482830970

http://www.whattoexpect.com/funnel/registration.aspx?18=toddlerdevelopment&xid=g_reg&s_kwcid=TC|21967|the%20development%20of%20toddlers||S|b|8765848023&gclid=CKbri6_J56gCFRG4KgodSz8bCw

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Categories
Pediatric

Nighttime Sleep Boosts Infant Skills

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At ages 1 and 1-1/2, children who get most of their sleep at night (as opposed to during the day) do better in a variety of skill areas than children who don’t sleep as much at night.

That’s the finding of a new longitudinal study conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal and the University of Minnesota. The research appears in the November/December 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.

The study, of 60 Canadian children at ages 1, 1-1/2, and 2, looked at the effects of infants‘ sleep on executive functioning. Among children, executive functioning includes the ability to control impulses, remember things, and show mental flexibility. Executive functioning develops rapidly between ages 1 and 6, but little is known about why certain children are better than others at acquiring these skills.

“We found that infants’ sleep is associated with cognitive functions that depend on brain structures that develop rapidly in the first two years of life,” explains Annie Bernier, professor of psychology at the University of Montreal, who led the study. “This may imply that good nighttime sleep in infancy sets in motion a cascade of neural effects that has implications for later executive skills.”

When the infants were 1 year old and 1-1/2 years old, their mothers filled out three-day sleep diaries that included hour-by-hour patterns, daytime naps, and nighttime wakings. When the children were 1-1/2 and 2, the researchers measured how the children did on the skills involved with executive functioning.

Children who got most of their sleep during the night did better on the tasks, especially those involving impulse control. The link between sleep and the skills remained, even after the researchers took into consideration such factors as parents’ education and income and the children’s general cognitive skills. The number of times infants woke at night and the total time spent sleeping were not found to relate to the infants’ executive functioning skills.

“These findings add to previous research with school-age children, which has shown that sleep plays a role in the development of higher-order cognitive functions that involve the brain’s prefrontal cortex,” according to Bernier.

Source : Elements4Health

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Ailmemts & Remedies Pediatric

Laryngomalacia: A noisy problem!

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Laryngomalacia is the most common cause of “noisy breathing” in babies after the newborn period. This disorder may become obvious as early as the first two weeks of life, with noisy, raspy breathing while taking a breath in . At first the noise simply sounds like nasal congestion, but it occurs without nasal secretions. This type of “noisy breathing” is known as stridor and has a high pitched, harsh quality. The stridor is usually absent with the child is at rest and becomes more prominent when the infant is lying on his/her back, crying, feeding,excited or has a cold. The stridor usually is at it’s worst around six months and then gradually improves. Most children are symptom free by 24 months.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

The cause of laryngomalacia is not clearly understood. What is known about the condition is that the epiglottits which protects the airway when the child feeds also partially obstructs the airway during breathing. The partial obstruction is the source of “noise” with breathing.

Children with laryngomalacia will do better at a 30 degree angle, or by positioning their heads to relieve or reduce the obstruction. The child should also be held in an upright position for 30 minutes after feeding and never fed lying down. Crying exacerbates the obstruction and work of breathing; a pacifier may be useful to calm an agitated infant.

Characteristics of laryngomalacia include:

Starts in the first two months of life (but not at birth)
Occurs when the child is breathing in
Becomes worse with crying, upper respiratory tract infections, laying in the supine (on back) position*
Usually gets worse before it gets better
Child may have retractions (sucking in of the skin above or below the ribs when breathing in)
There is no cyanosis (blue color of the skin)
The baby is otherwise happy and thriving
Treatment is simple but nerve-racking — waiting for the child to out grow the condition while explaining to family, friends, and passerbys that there is really nothing wrong with your noisy breathing baby. It is rare that this abnormality causes any serious problems. The stress is on the parent listening to this noisy breathing as the infant is experiencing little problems. In time, the cartilage that supports tissues around the throat and airway become stronger which helps resolve the problem. Most children grow out of laryngomalacia by one year of age and nearly all children eventually outgrow the condition.

Laryngomalacia a not a dangerous condition and will not interfere with the child’s growth and development. No treatment is necessary, although some parents have found that cool visit from a vaporizer helps eases the child’s noisy breathing. Only in very severe (are rare) cases, or when there is a simultaneous upper respiratory infection, does the condition require treatment. Holding the child in the prone position (stomach down) and comforting and soothing him/her to slow the breathing are almost always sufficient to handle an episode. The most important thing is to calm the child, in order to stop the crying, as crying makes the problem much worse. If a parent is in doubt about their child’s noisy breathing, they should have him/her looked at, but hospitalization for Laryngomalacia is very rare.

*In some instances, doctors may recommend that babies with laryngomalacia be placed on their stomachs to sleep instead of their backs, as long as the bedding is not soft. Parents of children with laryngomalacia should always talk to the baby’s doctor if they are unsure about the best sleep position for their baby.

Source:kidsgrowth.com

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Positive thinking

Redirecting The Eruption

Intense emotions demand intense modes of expression. While there are many outlets for the feelings typically deemed positive, however, there are far fewer methods for constructively coping with anger, frustration, fear, sadness, or stress. Consequently, such feelings can cause us to believe that we are no longer in control of our emotional state. Backed into a mental corner, we may lash out at the first individual we encounter. Most of us will quickly discover that our misdirected outpouring of fury has not relieved the pressure of our pain. Powerful emotions are like the lava in a volcano poised to erupt—held in check with nothing but an eroding layer of calm. Within us lies the power to direct the flood of feeling that surges forth by channeling it into productive, artistic, or laborious pursuits.

Retaking control of our emotions at their height can be difficult because our already negative feelings can convince us that others are deserving of our wrath. But if we consciously look for healthier ways of expressing what we feel, we can both safely dispel our pain and use the energy of that pain to add value to our lives. Anger and sadness, for example, can become the inspiration that induces us to dedicate ourselves to bringing about the change we wish to see in the world. If we act rather than react, we can become effective agents of positive transformation. When we channel our frustration or feelings of stress into outside-the-box thinking and proactive exploits, we are more apt to discover solutions to the issues that initially left us stymied. And if we view fear as a signal that we need to reexamine our circumstances rather than a cue to flee, we may gain new and unexpected insight into our lives.

Channeling your emotions into constructive action can also prevent you from engaging in cyclical rumination in which you repeatedly relive the situation, event, or expectation that originally sparked your feelings in your mind’s eye. Since you are focused on a goal, even if your ambition is merely to better understand yourself, your pain is no longer being fed by your intellectual and emotional energy and quickly ebbs away. You not only avoid lashing out at others, but you also actively take part in your own healing process while honestly acknowledging and honoring your feelings.

Source   :Daily Om

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