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This article throws light upon the seven congenital differences among neonates. The differences are: 1. Sensation 2. Physical Reactions and Development 3. Bodily Growth 4. Body Proportions 5. Skeletal Development 6. Teeth 7. Muscles.
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 1.
Sensation:
Sensation is the experience that the infant has at or through its sensory threshold; it may be visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory or tactile. The sensory thresholds happen to be quite capable of responding to the appropriate environmental stimuli, even when the child is born.
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Congenital differences are evident in the amount of responsively; some children are quick in responding to stimulation, while others may require higher intensity of stimulation to make them responsive.
An experiment was conducted on babies ranging up to 5 days of age, to see how they would respond to a tone of constant intensity. The rates of their heart beating were also marked. And, it was found that some adopted to the changed situation earlier than others who continued flexing legs and arms for long.
It was also evidenced that the new born female babies were less sensitive to pain, than were the new born male babies.
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 2.
Physical Reactions and Development:
Much depends upon the way the child reacts to physical stress. For the neonate, hunger is the general source of tension or stress. The four main bodily systems are involved in the reaction—the gastrointestinal tract, the skin, the respiratory apparatus and the cardiovascular system (that is, heart and blood vessels).
Under stress, the heart rate increases, the temperature of the skin rises, some even vomit, and “break out with a rash”, the face or skin may flush markedly as a result of increase in blood pressure and the widening (dilation) of the small blood vessels.
If such behaviour occurs with great frequency during the first year of the child, his development is sure to be affected by it. Psychosomatic symptoms may appear; in some cases, ulcers, asthma or allergies may be the result.
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 3.
Bodily Growth:
Norms are there to know the height and weight of a child at a particular age; but these are averages; wide variations are there in individual cases. The rate of growth varies greatly. Here, only a general picture of development is meant to be given.
Sex differences are also there—the full time male infants weigh a little more than the full time female infants; there is difference in height also. A full time male baby is about 20 inches tall, and, weighs 7.5 pounds at birth.
Nutrition of the expectant mother is an important factor to affect the tallness and the weight of the foetus or the neonate. The first year of the child witnesses rapid increase in height and weight. By the end of the first year, the average height of the child becomes 28 inches (one-third growth) and the weight, 20 pounds (three times growth) [Table 4.1].
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 4.
Body Proportions:
Vast changes occur in the body proportions during the first year and the growth happens to be very rapid. At birth, the legs of the infants are about one-fifth the size of the leg of an adult. Since 8 weeks of age, the growth rate of legs is accelerated.
The head and face grow more slowly, than do the other parts of the body. The size and shape of the skull, too undergoes change. The total length of the head and face of a 3 month old foetus is about one-third of the total length of the body; length of the same at birth, is less than one-fourth; and in adulthood, it is about one-tenth.
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 5.
Skeletal Development:
Soft cartilage tissues turn into bones as a result of ossification. Ossification is the result of the hardening of cartilages, mainly due to the deposition of minerals. The process of ossification begins during the prenatal period, and continues, in case of some bones, till late in adolescence.
Some bones may break easily while others do not, even though they are very soft. Individual differences may also be seen in case of ossification or development of bones. The timing and the rate of ossifications vary from child to child—some bones develop early while others late, and, take more time in ossification.
Of the total 28 bones of hand and wrist, three develop earlier than the rest though in comparison to the bones of the other parts of the body, the bones of the hands and wrist ossify earlier.
When a child is born, its skull has six fontanelles (membranous space in infant’s skull); they ossify gradually. The process is not completed till the child is 2 years old. Growth and development of bones is a bit faster in case of female children than male children.
Racial differences are also perceivable in case of skeleton growth. Some children are broad-framed, and have faster growth rate than others. The rate and nature of ossification also depends on the factor of heredity, though the same are also affected by malnutrition, illness, allergies, and other problems.
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 6.
Teeth:
Variation is also found in case of eruption of teeth. Some have a particular type of teeth erupted earlier while others have the same teeth erupt later. Some deciduous teeth appear earlier, and, others later. Generally, by about the age of 1 year, and through the age of nine months, these teeth can be seen.
The first tooth, the lower front one, generally appears by the time the child is 7 months old. There is no co-relation between the eruption of teeth and the height, weight or muscle-mass of the child. Again, the girl goes ahead of the boy child, in case of the eruption of teeth also. Genetic factor also has its impact on the timing and nature of the eruption of teeth.
Neonates: Congenital Difference # 7.
Muscles:
A continuous growth occurs in case of muscles since the time the child is born. In the beginning, the muscle fibres happen to be small in size— in length, breadth and thickness. With age they gain in all these respects.
The process of growth may continue till adulthood, when the gain made in weight of the muscles, may be forty times of what it was at birth. During the first year, the striped or skeleton muscles are not fully under the control of the child.
All the different muscles do not develop at the same rate. The muscles that are near the hands and the neck have a tendency of developing earlier. A male child has a greater proportion of muscles than a female child does; this difference holds on later also.