2008 January
Babythings4u.co.uk, helping inform you to make the right decisions

What is Child Development?
Children grow, develop, and learn throughout their lives from birth and infancy to adulthood. A child’s development can be measured through social, physical, and cognitive developmental milestones. If children fail to develop properly they may be unable to reach their full potential. However, healthcare professionals and parents can work together as partners to help children grow up healthy and strong.

Why be concerned if a baby shows signs of developmental delay? Won’t she just grow out of it?
Developmental delays can have future negative effects on your child, which may lead to speech and language difficulties, behavioral problems and learning problems.

How can I prevent developmental delay in my baby?
There isn’t one “right way” to prevent developmental delay. Consult a pediatrician for specific activities for your child. Some activities such as singing and reading to your child help to stimulate cognition and recognition of a mother’s voice by her child.

What is early childhood intervention?
The intent of early child intervention is to lay a foundation, in conjunction with the family, to support infants as they grow and mature into healthy individuals. Healthy means the best possible outcome the physical, mental, and social functioning and well-being of an individual.

My name is Chloe, I have been a qualified nursery nurse for a number of years now (Certificate in Early Years, Level 4), and would like to share some of what i have learnt about childrens development through this blog.

Defining health and well-being varies depending on where you come from. For example, a child living in Zimbabwe-a country currently experiencing an AIDS epidemic and famine, might be considred healthy by local community because he or she is free from disease and nourished. In the developed world, however, most people would not be comfortable thinking on such narrow terms.

In the United Kingdom, we are bobarded daily with advice on staying healthy, what we should and should not eat and drink, how much excercse we need, and how to tackle stress in our lives. All of this information often leaves parents struggling with questions about their children’s health. Will my child develop well if i go back to work? Is my child eating the right food? These concerns about their children’s health are not without good reason. The foundations for physical, social and emotional health are built in the early years, and it is far more effective to make sure that those are well-established than to cure ill health later in life.

Health is not easy to define, as individuals have different ideas about what health means. In 1984 the World Health Organization defined health as:

the extent to which an individual or group is able, on the one hand, to realise aspirations and satisfy needs: and, on the other hand, to change or cope with the environment. Health is therefore, seen as a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living: it is a positive concept emphasising social and personal resouces, as well as physical capacities.