Small children grow and develop according to special laws that do not apply to an adult. To assess the development of the baby, a number of indicators are used, which most pediatricians are guided by.
Instructions
Step 1
All children are individual and differ from each other in the pace of physical development. Nevertheless, there are world-recognized methods for assessing the physical and psychomotor development of the baby. With the help of these methods, children's doctors determine how much the child's anthropometric indicators correspond to his age. Controlling the dynamics of development is an important task for the pediatrician and the parents of the baby, since if there are deviations from the norm, it is possible to conduct a timely examination and identify their causes.
Step 2
The physical development of the baby is assessed according to the most important anthropometric indicators: weight, height, proportions of body parts, motor skills.
Step 3
The growth of a child is the most important indicator of his normal development. Growth retardation is an alarming symptom that cannot be ignored at any age, starting from the first weeks of a baby's life. The highest growth rates are observed in newborn babies. The growth process is not uniform: there are so-called growth spikes at different age periods. The older the child gets, the slower it grows. To assess this indicator, normative tables of a parametric or centile scale are used. The growth of a newborn full-term baby averages 46-60 cm. During the first two months of life, the child gains about 6 cm, and then the growth rate begins to decline. The next growth spurt is observed after a year. On average, for the first year, the growth of the baby increases by 20-25 cm. By the third year of life, the child becomes 12-13 cm taller, and by the age of four, the growth rate decreases - the baby grows only 7-8 cm. Stunting is a sign numerous diseases and lack of nutrients, vitamins, minerals. If the growth of the baby does not correspond to the average indicators of the tables, you should be examined by a doctor.
Step 4
The second important indicator of child development is body weight. The weight of the child changes under the influence of a lot of factors, but there are average values that are recognized as the boundaries of the norm. The body weight of a full-term newborn baby is 2600-4500 g. In the first three months of life, the most intense weight gain is observed. By the age of six months, the dynamics of weight gain begins to decrease. By one year, a healthy child weighs an average of 10-11 kg. Small deviations from the norm are not a pathology, since weight is a labile indicator, largely due to the individual characteristics of the child's body.
Step 5
Motor functions are an indicator by which a child's psychomotor development is assessed. Immediately after birth, the baby's natural physiological reflexes are assessed. By the age of two months, the baby should confidently hold his head, his movements become less chaotic and erratic, the baby can make attempts to grab the toy and hold it in his hands. By the age of three months, many babies begin to roll over from their backs onto their stomachs, but this action can be performed for the first time by the child even at the age of five months, which is not considered a deviation from the norm. At 6 months, the baby usually begins to crawl and make attempts to sit, and at 7 months these attempts should be successful. At 9 months, the child already knows how to crawl, roll over from back to stomach, and then from stomach to back, sit down, stand and take the first steps at the support. Most babies take independent steps without support at 12 months.
Step 6
It is important to remember that none of the indicators of childhood physical development are cause for concern. The development of a child is assessed in a complex of many signs, with the obligatory consideration of the individual characteristics of the organism.
