Physical Development in Newborns
When a baby is born, she has developed significantly over her nine months spent in utero. However, her physical development is still somewhat minimal in terms of her ability to control her body and move in specific ways. As a baby grows, she begins to develop physical skills and traits until she is able to control her body later in infancy.
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Vision and Hearing
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A newborn is born with the ability to hear. In fact, he could hear while he was still in his mother's womb. His vision is somewhat slower to develop. While he can see, he cannot process the images he sees, so his vision is somewhat blurry and scattered at first. According to the Better Health website, by age six weeks, a baby should be able to move both eyes in unison. In the first two months, he may be more attracted to contrasts and obvious visual images, such as black-and-white patterns or bright colors and lights. During this time, he will also begin to recognize the human face as an "object" of sorts.
Head and Neck
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An infant cannot support her head with neck muscles at first. If you were to lift a baby from lying down to sitting up, her head would lag or fall backward. By about two months of age, according to the University of Maryland's Medical Center website, an infant can lift her head slightly to turn it from right to left if she is positioned on her back. At about this time, she may begin to spend time on her tummy while she is awake, as she learns to lift her head up from that position as well.
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Hands and Arms
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A newborn's hands tend to remain clutched, or balled into fists, at all times. His arms generally remain flexed as well. The palmar hand grasp is a reflex most newborns have, where they are able to grab and hold onto a finger or another small object placed in their hands.
Feet and Legs
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Newborns tend to keep their legs bent, maintaining something of a fetal position. When you stroke a baby's foot, he may display the Babinski reflex: he will fan out his toes. He may also kick or extend his leg when you touch the bottom of his foot. When he flexes his toes and forefoot, this is known as the plantar grasp.
Other Movements and Reflexes
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A newborn learns to suck while she is still in the womb, so she is able to eat when she is born. If you touch her cheek, she will move her head to locate a nipple. She will suck on that "nipple," or latch onto it, when you place it in her mouth.
Newborns also exhibit the startle relfex, also known as the moro reflex. It occurs when baby extends her arms and legs and then pulls them in sharply, sometimes adding a cry to the process. Baby will demonstrate this reflex if she is startled by a loud noise, or sometimes for apparent reason.
Tonic neck responses occur when baby turns her head; if she turns to the left, she will usually extend her left arm and pull in her right arm and leg. The reverse happens when she faces right.
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References
- Photo Credit baby image by Diane Stamatelatos from Fotolia.com
