Child Pychology 2nd part
Pregnancy What is pregnancy? The start of conception A male sperm penetrates an egg and fertilizes it. This usually happens in the woman's fallopian tube after ovulation (the matured egg was released from one of her ovaries). Sperm has 23 chromosomes, including one of two types of sex chromosomes - X chromosome or Y chromosome. A sperm with an X chromosome that fertilizes an egg will produce a girl, while a Y chromosome sperm will produce a boy. Each egg also has 23 chromosomes. 46 chromosomes are required to make a human. The fusion of sperm and egg makes 46. Signs of pregnancy: o o o o o o o
Missed period. Nausea with or without vomiting. Tiredness. Dizziness. Breast changes. Breast tenderness. Frequent urination.
Nausea generally affects pregnant women during the first three to four months of the pregnancy. o
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The 1st trimester These are the first 13 weeks of the pregnancy. The baby develops the fastest during this period and becomes almost fully formed by the end of it. Women say this trimester is when they are most likely to feel tired, nausea, and breast tenderness. The 2nd trimester This is from the 14th to 26th week of the pregnancy. During this trimester it becomes obvious that the mother is pregnant. During the second trimester the mother will feel the baby's movements, as will others if they place their hands on the mothers stomach - sometimes movement may be observed without touching. The 3rd trimester This is from week 27 until the baby is born. During this trimester the baby will build up fat stores, and continue growing rapidly. The baby's lungs will develop, as will his/her sense of hearing, taste and sight.
Nicotine, alcohol and cocaine
Nicotine Nicotine is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the U.S., and the leading preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the U.S. Cigarette smoking accounts for 90% of lung cancer cases in the U.S., and about 38,000 deaths per year can be attributed to secondhand smoke. Most cigarettes in the U.S. market today contain 10 milligrams (mg) or more of nicotine. The average smoker takes in 1 to 2 mg nicotine per cigarette when inhaling. What is nicotine? Nicotine is one of more than 4,000 chemicals found in the smoke from tobacco products; it is the primary component that acts on the brain. Smokeless tobacco products (for example, snuff and chewing tobacco) also contain many toxins as well as high levels of nicotine. Nicotine is a naturally occurring colorless liquid that turns brown when burned and takes on the odor of tobacco when exposed to air. There are many species of tobacco plants, the tabacum species serving as the major source of today's tobacco products. Extensive study shows it to have a number of complex and sometimes unpredictable effects on the brain and the body. Nicotine is absorbed through the skin and mucosal lining of the nose and mouth or in the lungs (through inhalation). Nicotine can reach peak levels in the bloodstream and brain rapidly, depending on how it is taken. Cigarette smoking results in nicotine reaching the brain within just 10 seconds of inhalation. However, cigar and pipe smokers, on the other hand, typically do not inhale the smoke, so nicotine is absorbed more slowly through the mucosal membranes of their mouths (as is nicotine from smokeless tobacco). Nicotine is addictive, which is why most smokers tend to do it regularly. Addiction is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, even at the risk of negative health consequences. Besides nicotine's addictive properties, other factors to consider include its easy availability, the small number of legal and social consequences of tobacco use and the sophisticated marketing and advertising methods of tobacco companies. These combined with nicotine's addictive properties often lead to first use and, ultimately, addiction. Recent research has shown how nicotine acts on the brain. Nicotine activates the circuitry that regulates feelings of pleasure, the socalled reward pathways. Research has shown that nicotine increases the levels of dopamine (a key brain chemical involved in mediating the desire to consume drugs) in the reward circuits.
Acohol
If you're pregnant and wondering if it's OK to indulge in the occasional small glass of merlot or to sip a little champagne on New Year’s Eve, the advice you receive may be confusing. Some doctors recommend that you completely avoid alcohol when you’re expecting; others say that occasional light drinking is unlikely to harm your baby. Chances are your friends are divided on this, too. One might confide that she enjoyed the occasional beer during her pregnancy and feels her child turned out fine, while another sees this as taking an unnecessary risk. For decades, researchers have known that heavy drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects. But the potential effects of small amounts of alcohol on adeveloping baby are not well understood. Whatever the risks, many moms-to-be are choosing not to totally give up alcohol. A recent CDC study found that about one in eight pregnant women in the U.S. report drinking at least one alcoholic beverage in the past month. Here’s what doctors say pregnant women should keep in mind when deciding whether to drink lightly or to steer clear of alcohol altogether. How Much Is Too Much? “The problem with drinking alcohol during your pregnancy is that there is no amount that has been proven to be safe,” says Jacques Moritz, MD, director of gynecology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York. David Garry, DO, associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and chair of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Task Force for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists District II/NY, agrees. He says that researchers don’t know enough about the potential effects of drinking alcohol at particular times during the pregnancy to be able to say that any time is really safe. It’s also difficult to predict the impact of drinking on any given pregnancy because some women have higher levels of the enzyme that breaks down alcohol. “If a pregnant woman with low levels of this enzyme drinks, her baby may be more susceptible to harm because the alcohol may circulate in her body for a longer period of time,” Garry tells WebMD. Because there are so many unknowns, the CDC, the U.S. Surgeon General, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics advise pregnant women not to drink alcohol at allThey note, on their web sites, that pregnant women who drink alcohol risk giving birth to a child with a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). These conditions range from mild to severe and include speech and language delays, learning disabilities, abnormal facial features, small head size, and many other problems.
Cocaine What Is the Effect of Maternal Cocaine Use? The full extent of the effects of prenatal drug exposure on a child is not completely known, but many scientific studies have documented that babies born to mothers who abuse cocaine during pregnancy are often prematurely delivered, have low birth weights and smaller head circumferences, and are often shorter in length. Estimating the full extent of the consequences of maternal drug abuse is difficult, and determining the specific hazard of a particular drug to the unborn child is even more problematic, given that, typically, more than one substance is abused. Such factors as the amount and number of all drugs abused; inadequate prenatal care; abuse and neglect of the children, due to the mother's lifestyle; socioeconomic status; poor maternal nutrition; other health problems; and exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, are just some examples of the difficulty in determining the direct impact of perinatal cocaine use, for example, on maternal and fetal outcome. Many may recall that "crack babies," or babies born to mothers who used cocaine while pregnant, were written off by many a decade ago as a lost generation. They were predicted to suffer from severe, irreversible damage, including reduced intelligence and social skills. It was later found that this was a gross exaggeration. Most crack-exposed babies appear to recover quite well. However, the fact that most of these children appear normal should not be over-interpreted as a positive sign. U sophisticated sing technologies, scientists are now finding that exposure to cocaine during fetal development may lead to subtle, but significant, deficits later, especially with behaviors that are crucial to success in the classroom, such as blocking out distractions and concentrating for long periods of time.
How the Brain Develops What we have learned about the process of brain development has helped us understand more about the roles both genetics and the environment play in our development. It appears that genetics predisposes us to develop in certain ways. But our experiences, including our interactions with other people, have a significant impact on how our predispositions are expressed. In fact, research now shows that many capacities thought to be fixed at birth are actually dependent on a sequence of experiences combined with heredity. The Growing Baby's Brain Brain development, or learning, is actually the process of creating, strengthening, and discarding connections among the neurons; these connections are called synapses. Synapses organize the brain by forming pathways that connect the parts of the brain governing everything we do—from breathing and sleeping to thinking and feeling. This is the essence of postnatal brain development, because at birth, very few synapses have been formed. The synapses present at birth are primarily those that govern our bodily functions such as heart rate, breathing, eating, and sleeping. The development of synapses occurs at an astounding rate during children's early years, in response to the young child's experiences. At its peak, the cerebral cortex of a healthy toddler may create 2 million synapses per second (ZERO TO THREE, 2009). By the time children are 3, their brains have approximately 1,000 trillion synapses, many more than they will ever need. Some of these synapses are strengthened and remain intact, but many are gradually discarded. Another important process that takes place in the developing brain is myelination. Myelin is the white fatty tissue that insulates mature brain cells by forming a sheath, thus ensuring clear transmission across synapses. Young children process information slowly because their brain cells lack the myelin necessary for fast, clear nerve impulse transmission (ZERO TO THREE, 2009). Like other neuronal growth processes, myelination begins in the primary motor and sensory areas (the brain stem and cortex) and gradually progresses to the higher-order regions that control thought, memories, and feelings. By the age of 3, a baby's brain has reached almost 90 percent of its adult size. The growth in each region of the brain largely depends on receiving stimulation, which spurs activity in that region. This stimulation provides the foundation for learning.
Plasticity—The Influence of Environment Researchers use the term plasticity to describe the brain's ability to change in response to repeated stimulation. The extent of a brain's plasticity is dependent on the stage of development and the particular brain system or region affected (Perry, 2006). For instance, the lower parts of the brain, which control basic functions such as breathing and heart rate, are less flexible than the higher functioning cortex, which controls thoughts and feelings. While cortex plasticity may lessen as a child gets older, some degree of plasticity remains. In fact, this brain plasticity is what allows us to keep learning into adulthood and throughout our lives. The developing brain's ongoing adaptations are the result of both genetics and experience.
Memories The organizing framework for children's development is based on the creation of memories. When repeated experiences strengthen a neuronal pathway, the pathway becomes encoded, and it eventually becomes a memory. Children learn to put one foot in front of the other to walk. They learn words to express themselves. And they learn that a smile usually brings a smile in return. At some point, they no longer have to think much about these processes—their brains manage these experiences with little effort because the memories that have been created allow for a smooth, efficient flow of information. The creation of memories is part of our adaptation to our environment. Our brains attempt to understand the world around us and fashion our interactions with that world in a way that promotes our survival and, hopefully, our growth. But if the early environment is abusive or neglectful, our brains will create memories of these experiences that may adversely color our view of the world throughout our life. Brain Development in Adolescence Studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques, involving brain scans at regular intervals, show that the brain continues to grow and develop into young adulthood (at least to the mid-twenties). Right before puberty, adolescent brains experience a growth spurt that occurs mainly in the frontal lobe, which is the area that governs planning, impulse control, and reasoning. During the teenage years, the brain again goes through a process of pruning synapses—somewhat like the infant and toddler brain . As the teenager grows into young adulthood, the brain develops more myelin to insulate the nerve fibers and speed neural processing, and this myelination occurs last in the frontal lobe.
The brain is one of the first organs to be built while your child is still in your womb. When he is born, his brain comprises of a billion brain cells. From the time he is born, your child's brain is constantly working and learning new things. This is a lifelong process. The brain's learning ability is greatly influenced by both external and internal factor The human brain has two main parts; the brain itself and the brain stem. In the brain, the cerebrum is the largest part. It is further subdivided into four regions. Each region has a specific role to play. The occipital lobe controls the development of vision. Development related to the senses of smell, hearing and language are governed by the temporal lobe. The frontal lobe is responsible for the development of fine motor skills while the parietal lobe influences an individual's perception ability. The brain also controls unconscious movements. The brain stem is in charge of basic body functions. These include the beating of the heart, breathing, etc. The hypothalamus, which is the master control for all the hormones in the body, is also present in the brain.
Stimulating Brain Development Although a child is born with a large number of brain cells, most of them are lost after birth. When the brain learns something new, the brain cells make a connection, storing the information. Over a period of time, those cells which do not have any information stored in them are naturally discarded. This allows the remaining cells to develop further. Depending on how you want your child's brain to develop, you must provide the required stimulus. For example, developing a child's language skills involves reading and speaking to him. Developing other areas will require a variety of different stimuli. Stimulating a child's brain starts from the moment a child is born. Most of a child's development takes place during the first year after birth.
Positive Stimulation From the moment your child is born, his learning process begins. You can stimulate his visual senses by hanging mobiles above his crib so that he can watch them move. He will not be able to focus on them since his visual range at this stage is only around twelve inches. However, he will be able to perceive some movements. Talking to your child introduces him to language. He cannot reply to you at this stage but his brain is already making the necessary connections to associate words with meanings. Touch is also important for your baby's brain to develop. If you constantly touch your baby, it reassures him and creates a positive environment for his brain to continue to learn new things.
Activities to stimuli your child o o o o o
Tangram Make puzles Memory game, this help to your child to remembering faces, it develops the memory. Also leave your child plating with snatchs help to stimulate the creativity of your child. Play with chest.