Tamara Merrill Presentation Write-Up

Dr. Christian Perring ASC128C / Winter '01

January 24, 2001

Our Ability to Affect Babies and Infants

In many ways we affect babies and infants. We affect them in both positive and negative ways. Babies are affected even before they are born. Affects before birth can be health or genetic issues. We also affect them once they are born by playing music, reading books, playing, parenting styles, and etc.

Healthy pregnancies consist of exercising, drinking right, maintaining a well balanced diet, achieving proper prenatal care, and decreasing the chances of birth defects. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends that pregnant women should exercise three times a week for twenty minutes each time with permission from a doctor. Increasing medical evidence shows exercise, even a vigorous workout is healthy during pregnancy. The best exercises for pregnant women are walking, swimming, riding a stationary bicycle, and/or joining a prenatal aerobics class. (Williams, 1999)

Pregnant women should drink 6-8 glasses of water per day. She should not consume more than one soft drink or cup of coffee per day to limit caffeine. Also, a pregnancy takes about an extra 300 calories a day. A pregnant woman should increase her daily food portions to include: 6-11 servings of breads and other whole grains, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 2-4 servings of fruits, 4-6 servings of milk or milk products, and 3-4 servings of meat and protein foods. (Williams, 1999)

The proper prenatal care consists of doctor visits once a month during the beginning of the pregnancy and increasing the visits at the end to about once a week. (Williams, 1999)

In order to decrease the chances of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord (neural tube) women must take certain precautions. Women have to limit caffeine, have vitamin B (folate or folic acid), and not taking accutate. Vitamin B can reduce the risk of birth defects of the brain and spinal cord (neural tube). An estimated 2,500 babies are born with neural tube defects. The most common is spina bifida, in which the spine is not closed. The exposed nerves are damaged, leaving the child with varying degrees of paralysis, incontinence, and sometimes mental retardation. Neural tube defects develop in the first 28 days after conception. United States Public Health Service recommends all women of childbearing ages get 400 micrograms of folic acid daily. (Williams, 1999)

Unhealthy pregnancies consists of mothers who smoke, use drugs, get x-rays, lay in hot tubs or saunas, drink alcoholic beverages, don't exercise, and/or don't maintain a well balanced diet. Smoking and drug use may cause low birth weight, preterm births, and/or stillbirth. These babies are more likely to have poor lung development, asthma and respiratory infections, and/or die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). (Smith, 1994)

X-rays can expose the fetus to radiation and potentially cause birth defects. Hot tubs and saunas can raise the core temperature of a pregnant woman's body and could potentially harm the fetus. (Williams, 1999)

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of mental and physical defects which develop in some unborn babies when the mother drinks too much alcohol during pregnancy. A baby born with FAS may be severely handicapped and require a lifetime of special care. Alcohol in a pregnant woman's bloodstream circulates to the fetus by crossing the placenta. There, the alcohol interferes with the ability to the fetus to receive sufficient oxygen and nourishment for normal cell development in the brain and other body organs. Some babies with alcohol-related birth defects, including smaller body size, lower birth weight, and other impairments, don't have all of the classic FAS symptoms. These symptoms are sometimes referred to as Fetal Alcohol Effects (FES). Researchers don't all agree on the precise distinctions between FAS and FES cases. (Smith, 1994)

Many parents want to choose the gender of their child before they are conceived and would like to choose characteristics of their child. People are able to choose their babies gender by going through a process called sperm sorting. This procedure which is presented by Genetics and IVF Institute of Fairfax, VA has been successful with many human experiments. Many cases were achieved by the sorting technique followed by inrtauterine insemination, in-vitro fertilization, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection. Some cases resulted in miscarriages, which is why it is not readily available. It is believed it may be caused from the florissant dye that is used during this technique. (McGee, 2000)

Many parents also want their children to have certain characteristics. It is desired to choose eye color, hair color, skin color, height, intelligence, and etc. People can get sperm or egg donations and select the donor. One sperm bank which advertises on the internet is "The Sperm Bank of California" and it gives a list of donors. You can find out the donors physical characteristics, the state they live in, their medical history, their interests, their occupation, hobbies, athletic ability, and so on. (McGee, 2000)

Music plays an important role on the influence of babies. Sound is one of the first stimuli of the outside world that a baby reacts to (Chalmers, 1989). Young children express musical awareness in everything they do. Researchers such as Don Campbell have shown how very early exposure to music can have a life long effect on health, creativity, learning, and behavior. Music has been shown to stimulate the brain's right side, fostering creativity, and help babies gain more weight and cry less. It has even been shown to increase coordination. Before birth, babies can hear and sense the rhythm of the heart and arteries of the mother. Playing these sounds after birth helps the babies to quiet down and fall asleep. (firsttoys.com) (Chalmers, 1989) (Spock, 1998))

Reading books to babies is a vital part of children's lives, even in their very first months. Books should be available for babies to hold and look at. Dorothy Butler says that if you don't believe it's doing anything, at least you are spending valuable time with them. (Butler, 1998)

Parenting styles / attachments are also very important in affecting the child. Hazan and Shaver (1987) found that children of secure respondents, the source of adult attachment patterns was easily traceable to early parent-child interactions. Mothers and fathers who were seen as loving and responsive to each other and to their children, also showed just the kind of behaviors that encourage secure attachment in childhood. The parenting styles affected the adult lives of the children greatly. (Hamachek, 1992)

Babies and infants mostly engage in Parten's solitary play (alone and independently with objects). Piaget's practice play (explore sensory qualities of objects and practice motor skills). This stage of parallel play is Piaget's sensorimotor stage of development. (Hamachek, 1992)

As you can see we affect the lives of babies and infants in many different ways. It is important to try your best especially as a parent to affect your child in a positive way.

For the most part, I think my presentation went well. I was a little nervous and I had a sore throat and a cold so I had a throat drop in my mouth. I should have let the class know this ahead of time because I got some points off for that. I think the main problem I came into was reading from my notes too much. Some people commented on that in my evaluations. I found it difficult to memorize all of the information. Many people made comments that said they liked my power point presentation. Most people liked how only the topic being discussed appeared on the screen and not the whole page at one time and many people also complimented the pictures that were incorporated. Well, I had fun getting the power point presentation together and I learned a lot. This research was very beneficial.

Resources

* = Excellent resource for this topic.

Butler, Dorothy. (1998). Babies Need Books. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

-Butler reviews the importance of books with babies.

Chalmers, Irena. (1989). The Great American Baby Almanac. New York, NY: Viking Studio Books.

-This is a book with a complete compendium of facts, fancies, and traditions.

Croft, Doreen. (1990). An Activities Handbook for Teachers of Young Children: 5th Edition. Boston, NJ: Houghton Mifflin Company.

-This is a book consisting of activities and their importance for young children.

*Hamachek, Don. (1992). Encounters With The Self: 4th Edition. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.

-This book explains through theory and research how 'self' is developed.

*McGee, Glenn. (2000). The Perfect Baby: 2nd Edition. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

-This book mainly discussed the new world of cloning and genetics.

Ramsey, Craig and Sharon Ramsey. (1999). Right From Birth. New York, NY: Goddard Press.

-This book reviews seven essentials in raising a child from birth on.

*Spock, Benjamin. (1998). Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care: Revised and Updated 7th Edition. New York, NY: Dutton.

-This book covers almost any issue about babies and the care for them.

*Williams, Rebecca. (1999). "Healthy Pregnancy, Healthy Baby". U. S. Food and Drug Administration. March-April 1999.

-This article is about all the health precautions pregnant women should take.

Websites:

Baby Center: "When Does My Toddler Need to be Around Other Children". (1997).

www.babycenter.com

-This webpage describes when a child should be interacting alone with others.

Bayfronts Health Adventure: "A Woman's Way to Health: All About Babies". (1997).

www.bayfront.org

-This page is all about the health of a pregnant woman.

*Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome". (Smith, 1994).

www.well.com

-This page is about FAS and FAE: what it is, how it's caused, affects, etc.

*First Toys: "All the Sounds of the Earth are Like Music". (Oscar Hammerstein).

www.firsttoys.com

-This is all about music and how it influences babies from the womb until it gets older.

- All of my resources were very insightful and full of information, but others helped a little more. The excellent resources have stars next to them.