Environment
any event or condition outside the organism that is presumed to influence, or be influenced by the person’s development.
3 stages
germinal
embryonic
fetal
Germinal stage
fertilisation to 2 weeks
Embryonic stage
3-8 weeks
fetal
9 week to birth
Sensory ability at 8 weeks
responds to touch around lips and cheeks
Sensory ability at 15-16 weeks
responds to flavour of amniotic fluid
Sensory ability at 22-24 weeks
responds to sounds
Fetal learning
newborns prefer to listen to their mother’s voice and to music and stories they heard prenatally
-also learns about smells and tastes
The importance of fetal behaviour
Environmental influences on prenatal development
- the mother’s state (age, emotional and nutritional condition)
Teratogens
any disease, drug, or other environmental agent that can harm a developing fetus
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Safest age to bear a child
20-40 yrs old
Emotional condition in mothers
babies of highly stressed mothers tend to be small, premature and irritable
maternal malnutrition associated with…
- intellectual and social deficits
Effects of environmental hazards depend on:
Stage 1 of labour
Stage 2 of labour
Stage 3 of labour
expulsion of the placenta
Baby during labour
APGAR test
APGAR stands for…
Neonates at risk
- Low-birth-weight babies (less than 2500g at birth)