Monday, December 27, 2010

Things to Be Known By A Babysitter About The Infants Before Babysitting

It is seen now a days that nanny care is considered as an important issue. Babysitting is one of the forms of nanny care. Babysitting includes taking care of children may be infants or older children. Therefore a babysitter should know certain information about the development of an infant before babysitting.

All the newborn infants do not act in a same way. Some may be very quiet and sleep a lot. Whereas some are very active. To take care of infants, these differences should be noticed and considered. This may help in caring more about the growth and development of an infant. We observe that some children talk or walk at a younger age than others. This is based on the development of the child. The characteristics of development may be divided into three main areas: physical (body), intellectual (thinking and language), and social-emotional (getting along with others) development.

Physical Development:
A babysitter has to know about certain information to take care of infants. It is to be known that at birth, the vision of a baby is developed only after six months, an infant has no control on the body movements, the nervous system is fully developed only by six months and then only they can have control over their muscles. At this time, an infant is able to sit with support, and hold their head up for short period of time.

From six to twelve months, an infant can eat and sleep at regular times. They can hold objects and are able to crawl by eight months. The increase in height and weight of babies from birth to 12 months should be known. Babies at the time of twelve months old, weigh three times the weight at birth. They gain about an inch per month in length. An average length of an infant at one year may be between 26-30 inches.

Intellectual Development:
Infants focus and follow moving objects from birth to six months of time. Anything that they can hold, they try to put them in mouth. An infant cries in different ways at different times while expressing hunger, pain and anger. From six to twelve months they can make some signs and sounds that can be understood by people. That means by the time the infant is twelve months old, he speaks some first understandable words.

Social Development:
From birth to six months of age, infants develop a trust as the parents look after the needs which may be diapering, feeding, and holding them. The infants cry to express their feelings such as anger, hungry, and pain. At the end of six months, they are able to recognize the voices and faces of parents. By the time they are twelve months old, they can be able to feel strangers. They can talk and learn whatever is taught.

All these things should be known by a babysitter in order to make her job easy. Otherwise, she could not make a decision as to what has to be done when a baby cries.

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