Infancy Toddler Period Case Study

Infancy- Toddler Period (Birth to 3)
Laurie was born on July 11, 1989 at Henrico Doctors Richmond, VA. Weighing 3lbs and 5ozs and 15 inches in length. At birth the nurses do an APGAR score that scores from 0 to 10 and most healthy babies score from 7 to 10. This APGAR is to measure the appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration (Feldman, 2014). After birth Laurie scored a 5 all together on the APGAR score by this the doctors took Laurie away to be placed on oxygen to help her to breathe. With preterm babies they are developmentally immature due to lungs do not have enough surfactant to allow proper oxygen to pass through the body, not enough subcutaneous fat to keep warm and so on (Christensen & Kockrow, 2011). She was placed in

Looking at the development stages from Erik Erikson for the first stage infancy: basic trust vs. mistrust this is where the infant learns to trust or not to trust others by the care the infant receives or not receives (Christensen & Kockrow, 2011). Care for an infant is the basic need such as being fed, cleaned, and the most physical contact (Christensen & Kockrow, 2011). Being in the NICU it is hard on the parents as well the infant because there is a lack of bonding at first because all the risks to critical preterm infant. This causes the nurses to closely keep an eye on the infant and take care of the infant till the infant is strong enough and then the parents would be able to help. The NICU is a high stress environment that can cause the preterm infant to become depressed because the lack of contact (Woodward et al., 2014). Touch is very important for an infant it creates a bond with its caregivers this is why there is high promotion to breast-feeding to create secure attachment. Breast-feeding promotes social bonds with the mother and child that can build a connection as well trust (Flacking, Ewald, Nyqvist, Starrin, 2006). With premature babies breast-feeding is a problem because the baby is either in the NICU or in an incubator. So usually a nurse has to bottle-feed the infant at first till the parents are allowed to help with the

shame and doubt for ages 1 to 3 consider the toddler group. This stage is where a toddler/ child learns to be self-sufficient in different activities such as walking, eating, talking etc. or to think uncertainty of themselves (Christensen & Kockrow, 2011). As a premature infant there can be some delays in some of these area causing the child to have lack of independence. In Laurie’s case she had mixture of autonomy vs. shame and doubt. This can be seen due being premature infant. When Laurie was released from the hospital, she had to be on a heart monitor which cause her to have delays in walking, but on the other hand, she was talking and learn how to use her hands to feed herself. After the heart monitor was removed Laurie gain freedom and started to walk and explore her surroundings more. So she was showing autonomy. Also, in this time period from infant to toddler there are many doctor appointments to keep an eye on the child development and growth this is also very important with premature infants. Looking at Laurie’s case she born very small weighing only 3lbs and 11ozs she was able to catch up eventually to the norm for her age. These were all good signs in her development. Growing strong and being a miracle baby as the doctors called her she was developing well. She was able have a secure attachment with her parents. Mary Ainsworth explained how important a secure attachment was very important