Physical development refers to a baby’s increasing skill at utilizing various body parts. During development, there are three basic developmental rules:

“Rule one states, that baby’s develop in the head region first, followed by the upper body, followed by the trunk portion, and lastly the legs and feet. For example, a baby can hold up their heads first before they can grab an object with their hand.

Second rule refers to motor skills. Motor skills are the child’s ability to control movement. The two basic classifications in motor skills are large motor skills and fine motor skills. Large motor skills deal with all the large muscles, whereas fine motor skills deal with smaller muscles in the body.

The 3rd developmental rule is Brain development. As the brain develops a child responds more and more to sight and sound, which prepares them for further development (www.babycenter.com).”

At birth an infant’s vision is limited

Cognitive development relates to the reasoning and logic of an infant. Jean Piaget among all researchers dedicated his life to a search for the ideas behind cognitive development. “He was the first person to chart the journey from the simple reflexes of the newborn to the complex adolescent” (psychology pg. 390).” Piaget believed that all children’s thinking progresses through the same stages, in the same order without skipping, or building onto previous stages. “He also believed that the thinking of infants is different from the thinking of children and the thinking of children is different from that of an adolescent” (psychology, pg 390). To explain how infants move to higher standards of understanding and knowledge Piaget introduced four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor (0-18 months) , preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years)), and formal operational (over 11 years) ( psychology, pg 390).

by the immaturity of the brain, beyond 7-12 inches an infant’s world is a total blur. Infant’s eyes unlike ours do not contain a fovea. A fovea is the area of the retina in which the images are focused. Their eye movements are very slow and are jerky at times. They are able to see color but prefer the sharper contrast of black and white. Although babies can’t see small objects that are far away, infants can see large objects that are close up. “An adult’s perfect vision is estimated to be 20/20 and infant’s vision is estimated to be around 20/600” (psychology, pg 387). By the end of the first year a baby’s vision nearly matches that of a grown adult (psychology, pg 387).

From 0-4 months babies show the majority of their emotions through crying. They have many cries in which they show different emotions. Over time parents can tell the difference between them and know what they want through each cry. From 4-8 months infants begin to express a wider range of emotions. Pleasure, happiness, fear, and frustration are shown through gurgles, cools, and wails. They also show movements such as kicking, arm waving, rocking and smiling. From 8-18 months it’s at this time they develop a sense of self. They begin to recognize their image in a mirror and start to become more and more independent. Babies at this stage have a wide range of emotional states. One minute they could be happy and playing and the next minute they could be kicking and screaming (www.amazingbaby.com)

In conclusion, a baby’s development is very important for a strong healthy life. Without the care and responsibility needed for a child to develop this can effect them for life.

In the first 2 weeks after birth, infants have developed some reflexes. Babies begin to explore their grasping reflex where they can hold tightly to an object. Many of these behaviors evolved because they are important for a child’s survival, without these a child would not be able to physically develop. The absence of reflexes in a newborn are signals of

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