Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development of Newborns and Infants

     At birth, all five of our senses (touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing) are all functional, if somewhat limited.  Development of perception begins as the infant seeks and receives information through the senses. (Wittmer, p. 135)  It is believed that the sense of touch develops as early as the second month of gestation.  The infant’s skin is very sensitive to a variety of stimuli including heat, cold, tickling, and pain.  Touch is very important to an infant - even more so in those born prematurely.  Parents of preemies are encouraged to hold their infants in a skin-to-skin manner.  

     Although the newborn is able to see at birth, vision isn’t fully developed until later.  Regardless, vision plays an important part in the growing infant’s developing self-awareness.  Vision allows the infant to learn to recognize people, learn about the world around them, and eventually to learn that an adult’s gaze plays an important part in their life.

     One of the most common means for an infant to learn to identify his surroundings is through his sense of taste. Anyone who has ever observed a baby putting everything within reach into its mouth can attest to this fact.  One study even showed that what a mother eats during her pregnancy could influence what foods an infant will enjoy when introduced to solid foods.  (Prenatal)

     Studies and everyday observations have given evidence to the fact that hearing is an important aspect in the lives of babies.  It has been shown that a baby’s heart rate will increase when hearing its mother’s voice when in the womb.  Talking to a newborn that is crying can often cause the baby to stop crying while it looks for the source of the sound.  “Newborns can differentiate between sounds and prefer the sounds of their own language and their mother’s voice.” (Wittmer, p. 139)

     Smell is another important aspect in the life of a growing baby.  Just like older children and adults, babies prefer nice smells and physically turn away from bad smells.  

     At birth, babies have very little control over their muscles and bodies.  One can often see a baby kicking and thrashing its arms and legs with no apparent goal in mind, but as the baby grows he gradually gains more control over various parts of the body.  Muscle control and development increases from the head to the toes (cephalocaudal), and from the center of the body outwards (proximodistal).  One of the first things a baby learns to do is support its head when the muscles of the neck have strengthened.  Later the baby is able to roll over, sit up, and then eventually walk and run.  The baby is at first only able to grasp large items using its whole hand before it is later able to grasp using the thumb and opposing fingers.  

     A baby’s body proportions are quite different than those of an adult.  The head is quite large in proportion to the rest of the body, and the arms are rather long in proportion to the body when compared with those of an adult.  Although the infant may lose some weight in the first few days after birth, he will gain all that back and much more over the next few months; nearly doubling his birth weight by about the 4^th or 5^th month.    

     Just as infants use their senses to learn to understand their world, so too do toddlers.  The advantage toddlers have over infants is that their senses are much more developed.  Whereas an infant’s vision is around 20/600, a three year old has roughly 20/30 vision.  As the child grows, his hearing will also develop allowing him to experience language and sounds, which will also contribute to his learning about the world in which he resides.  

     As the young child’s senses develop, his perception of the world around him increases.  In order to explore this world more effectively, the young child’s motor and physical skills develop along with his perceptual senses allowing him to better learn about and understand the world and people surrounding him.  This perceptual-motor development works hand in hand to increase the child’s knowledge, skills, and abilities.  The child has gone from a helpless infant to a running, jumping, playing, learning machine in just a few short years.  Certainly there is nothing quite as marvelous and mysterious as the human body.

  

Reference

Prenatal and Postnatal Flavor Learning by Human Infants.  Pediatric Care Online   website. Retrieved

from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/107/6/e88.full

Wittmer, D. S., Petersen, S. H., Puckett, M. B. (2013). The Young Child: Development from Prebirth Through Age Eight.  Boston.  Pearson