Infant Observation

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The infant that was observed for the purposes of this essay was Phoebe, a two-month old girl, born via cesarean section at thirty-eight weeks of gestation to interracial parents. She was observed in her own home, in normal behavior and interactions between her and her mother. The observation was separated into two different one hour sessions.
First Hour of Observation The observation started when the mother and infant first arrived home. The infant sat in her car seat, asleep, until she began crying. The crying increased in intensity and was accompanied by flailing arms, kicking legs, and the child rooting. This behavior continued until the baby was put on the mother’s breast to feed. While the baby was on the breast her arms and legs were …show more content…

The observation began in a similar fashion to the first session, but soon after the infant began displaying an interesting interaction with its environment. The infant was placed in a bouncer with objects over head that would move when touched, which prompted the subject to reach outward with her arms. When she discovered that she could not reach with her arms, she began trying to reach with her legs. This lead to the mother moving the objects closer to the infant’s legs and allowing the infant to reach them. The infant enjoyed kicking the objects and had a much easier time making coordinated movements with her legs than she did with her arms. When her mother would encourage and laugh with her the infant would kick with increased vigor and frequency. When the infant discovered that one specific object would make noise when kicked, she managed to focus her attention and kicking on that object. This behavior seemed to support the proximodistal development theory, which states that infants gain control over their bodies from the center out, so it makes sense that infants can control their limbs better than they can control their fingers and specific movements. There has also been research that suggests that infants gain motor control over their legs much sooner than they gain control over their arms. This means that the infant is gaining control over her movements, which is a behavior that develops slowly over infancy. The child seems to be experiencing an average rate of development and exhibiting similar behavioral patterns to other infants at similar

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