Unit 18 – Working with Babies from Birth to 12 Months

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Task 1 – E1 The main factors that affect the health and development of babies in the first year of life are environmental factors such as not having enough space in the garden for the baby to play and explore will influence there development as they may not be able to expand their gross and fine motor skills ‘generally people with a high level of earnings enjoy a better lifestyle, with better housing, better food, warm clothes and own transport’ Meggitt. C (2006:11) parents may not be able to have the money to fund the toys and equipment for the baby which means they won’t have the opportunity to experience new things. What a baby eats can affect a baby’s development. Malnutrition can significantly disrupt a baby’s mental and physical growth and the affects can be permanent even if a change has been made to the diet later on. A healthy diet is extremely important in the first year of life. Another factor is genetics which may influence the health and development of the baby. This is because some illness’ are inherited through genes. For example Down ’s syndrome, this has been resulted from a chromosomal abnormality. The baby may form problems such as heart defects chest infections. Illnesses such as meningitis can cause epilepsy and hearing problems whilst asthma is long term and the baby may be affected for life. Disabilities have a strong affect on the development and health of a baby. Babies with genetic defects such as down’s syndrome or cystic fibrosis can have delayed development on the baby physically, socially, emotionally and intellectually. A disability may not be noticed at birth but may become apparent when there is a noticeable delay in development by parents or doctors etc. babies who are born prematurely generally grown and meet developmental milestones more slowly than infants with a gestational age of over 38 weeks. These babies begin life
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