Infant Growth and Development Milestones Nursing Review

Infant growth and development milestones review for nursing students!

For pediatric nursing class, you must be familiar with all the growth and development milestones for each age group. This review will discuss the growth and development for the INFANT.

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews and the infant growth and development quiz.

Lecture on Infant Growth and Development Milestones

Infant Growth and Development Milestones

When studying these milestones you want to be familiar with certain categories, and to helps us remember these categories let’s remember the word “BABIES”.

• Body changes
• Achieving developmental milestones
• Baby Safety
• Interventions (considerations when providing nursing care)
• Eating Plan
• Social Stimulation (play)

Body Changes

• Fontanelles close:
  • Anterior closed by 18 months
  • Posterior closed by 2 months
• Weight:
  • 6 months doubles
  • 1 year triples
    • Example: 8 lbs. at birth……16 lbs. at 6 months….24 lbs. at 1 year
  • Length:
    • Grows ½-1 inch every month until 6 months
      • Example: 21 inches at birth……24-27 inches at 6 months
    • Eruption of teeth: lower central incisors by 10 months…fall out by 6-7 years

Achieving Developmental Milestones

The nurse will assess if the infant is meeting the following milestones at specific ages. It is important to note if baby is reaching these milestones because it tells us if the infant is developing properly.

2 months:

• Moves head to each side and moves it in response to sound
• Tracts faces with eyes
• Makes noises (early language) cooing
• Smiles
• Hold head up when on stomach (educate: tummy time is important daily)

4 Months:

• Starts to enjoy play and interaction
• Cooing turns into babbling and copies other sounds
• Holds and reaches for toys
• Remembers faces and objects
• Rolls over

6 Months:

• Can sit up with support
• Stranger anxiety begins
• Babbles with early vowel sounds
• Recognizes and responds to name
• Has fun looking at self in mirror

8-9 Months:

• Sits without support
• Crawling
• Stands with pulling and holds on to object
• Pincer grasp:uses the thumb and index finger to pick up small objects
• Easily moves objects from one hand to the other
• Object permanence: this means they now know that once an object disappears it still exists.
  • Play: looking for hidden toys or playing peek-a-boo

10-12 Months:

• Begins walking
• Follows very simple commands
• Puts objects in a container and bangs them together
• Says simple words like “mama” or “dada”
• Separation anxiety starts

Baby Safety

-SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome): an infant under the age of 12 months dies for unknown reasons and this tends to occur during sleep.

Education Pieces for the parent:

• Best sleep position: back
• Dress infant appropriately….don’t over dress
• Avoid exposing baby to tobacco smoke
• Remove extra items from sleep areas
• Infant can sleep in the same room but not the same bed

-Shaken baby syndrome (never shake a baby): can cause brain injury and death

• Teach the parent about this and importance of being calm and laying infant down in a safe place and taking a break when things get intense

-Choking: there is a risk of choking starting after birth (babies can choke on milk or mucus in the respiratory tract)…teach parent how to remove with bulb suction and suggest they take a CPR class….also when foods are being introduced (usually around 6 months) AVOID small, hard round food items like grapes, uncooked vegetables etc. because these are a major choking hazard

Never leave unattended on surface and stop swaddling once the baby can start rolling over (by 6 months)

-Car sear safety: back seat and rear-facing device

–Burns: infants will start grabbing at items around 4-6 months, adjust water temperatures for the water heater, block off electrical outlets

Interventions (considerations when providing nursing care)

Erickson Stage: Trust vs Mistrust

• Meet needs promptly…..respond to crying
• Young infants: swaddling, rocking, sucking, holding
• Older infants: Keeping parent near if possible (decreases separation anxiety), same caregivers (decreases stranger anxiety), calm environment, play: crib mobiles, objects from home older infant would be familiar with, etc.

Eating Plan

• Breast feeding is considered gold standard in feeding an infant for the first 6 months of life (no other foods or liquids needed)…..alternative iron-fortified formula.
  • American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends exclusively breast feeding for the first 6 months with the exception of vitamin D supplementation (400 IU) for breast fed infants. Then can add solids over time while continuing breast feeding or formula after 6 months.
• None of the following during first 12 months: cow’s milk or honey

Social stimulation (play)

Independent play: starts with observing to interacting/grasping for objects and caregiver

• Observing: faces, high contrast objects, being talked or sung to….birth to 4 months
• Interacting: toys to grasp like rattles, peek-a-boo, hiding objects, big toys to hold on to and push or stand

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