Young Baby – A Definition
A
baby, or infant, may be
defined as a human child at the
earliest stage of life. In particular, it refers to that period before
they can
walk, and essentially before they attain the age of one year.
The
term "infant" is
derived from the Latin
in-fans, which means "unable to speak." Interestingly, there is no
exact definition for the term infancy. "Infant" is also a legal term
with the meaning of a minor, that is, any child under the age of legal
adulthood.
In the case of a human
baby less than one month old, it is
referred to as a newborn baby or a neonate. When referring to a newborn child, this also
includes the characterisation
premature, post mature, and full term babies.
Around
the age of one or
at the stage where the child is
beginning to walk, babies are subsequently referred to as toddlers.
This stage
of development is normally associated with the age group of 12-36
months.
Daycare
centres, which
contain facilities for babies, often
describe all the children in their care as infants. Even when they are
older
than one year or may be walking, they sometimes use the term "walking
infant".
Newborn Baby
Appearance
Narrow
shoulders and
hips, an abdomen that may possibly have
a slight protrusion, and fairly short arms and legs are typically
regarded as
the characteristics of a newborn baby.
It
is widely recognised
that, at birth, the average weight of
a full-term, newborn baby, is approximately 7 ½ lbs, or 3.2 kg. However, an acceptable
weight may fall within
the range of 5.5–10 pounds, or 2.7–4.6 kg. The normal body length is
around
14–20 inches, or 35.6–50.8 cm. However, premature babies may be
considerably
smaller.
The Apgar score is a
recognised measure of a newborn's
passage from the uterus, the major female productive organ, during the
first
few minutes after it is born. A newborn baby’s head is very large in
proportion
to the rest of its body, whilst the cranium, which is the upper part of
the
skull, is enormous in comparison with the size of the face.
In
general, the length of
an adult human skull is about 1/8
of the total body length, whilst that of a newborn is about 1/4.
At
birth, there are some
areas of the newborn babies skull
have yet to be transformed into bone. Therefore, this leaves distinctly
delicate areas known as fontanels. There are two particularly
significant
fontanels. The first, and largest, is a diamond-shaped anterior
fontanel, positioned
at the front portion of the top of the head. The second is a smaller
triangular-shaped posterior fontanel, positioned at the back of the
head. As the child
gets older, these bones will fuse
together in a natural
process. The delay in a baby’s skull fusion is due to a protein called
noggin.
In
1952, Dr Virginia
Apgar developed a simple and reproducible
method of quickly assessing the health of a newborn baby immediately
after
childbirth. It was called the Apgar score. It is determined by
assessing the
newborn baby on five simple criteria, on a scale from zero to two, and
then
calculating the five values relating to each criteria. The Apgar score
obtained
in this way will have values anywhere between zero and 10. The five
criteria,
based on the term APGAR, are: Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, and
Respiration.
Young
Baby – How To Succeed
Peter Radford writes
Articles with Websites on a wide range
of subjects. Young
Baby
Articles cover Newborn Appearance, Senses, Attachment, Care.
His Website contains
over 150 Young Baby Articles
View
his Website
at:
young-baby-how-to-succeed.com
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