Prenatal

Fact Sheet

The prenatal stage is an important stage of development and is broken up into three
stages or trimesters. Each trimester produces different developmental milestones.
These milestones are in three stages of development. Those stages are language,
cognitive and physical.

Physical

During the first trimester, week 1, the one-celled zygote multiplies and forms a
blastocyst. In week 2, the blastocyst burrows into the uterine lining. A structure
that feed and protects the developing organism begins to form. This is called
amnion, chorian, yolk sac, placenta, and the umbilical cord. The next stage during
the first trimester, the zygote will become the embryo. The embryos at 3-4 weeks
begin to develop the heart, muscles, ribs, backbone, and digestive tract. The brain
and the spinal cord will also appear. At 5-8 weeks external body parts such as face,
arms, toes, fingers and legs begin to form. It is also during this time that the
production of neurons begins occurring at rapid pace. The embryo will begin to
move and the sense of touch will emerge. At 9-12 weeks the embryo will become
the fetus. At this time the nervous system, organs and muscles become organized
and connected and behaviors such as kicking, thumb sucking and imitation of
breathing appear. The nerves and muscles begin to work together. The baby can
make a fist. Groark, C., McCarthy, S. & Kirk, A. (2014). The fetuss sex will be
evident as the external genitals are well formed.
During the second trimester almost all of the brains neurons are in place by the 24th
week. The eyes of the fetus are sensitive to light. It is also at this time that the fetus
will begin moving to the point to where the mother can feel him move. The fetuss
vernix and lanugo will keep the skin from chapping in the amniotic fluid.
Third trimester the lungs mature and the fetus increase in size. The brain rapidly
develops increasing sensory and behavioral capacities to expand. Between

Language
Also by the 24 week the fetus reacts to sounds. During the third trimester a baby
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in the womb can hear the mothers voice clearly. Childs, M. (1998) Talking to the
fetus is critical to language learning because the fetus makes use of the ability to
hear by learning the rhythms, tones, and sequences of language the mother speaks.
When neural patterns increase in the brain, the baby gets a jump on phonological
contours, and grammar. It is also during this time that the fetus has the best chance
of survival.

Cognitive
According to Nelson, at 7 weeks, nerve cells that store and transmit information,
called neurons, begin deep inside the neural tube. Once that is formed, the neurons
begin traveling to their permanent location in which they will form the major parts
of the brain. (2011) Once this process is complete, the embryo can already sense its
world. At 30 weeks, the fetus presents a repeated auditory stimulus against the
mothers abdomen. It initially reacted with a rise in heart rate and body
movements. After observing for the next few minutes, the fetus responsiveness
gradually declined, which indicated adaptation to the sound. According to Dirix et
al., if the stimulus is reintroduced after a 10-minute delay, heart rate falls off more
quickly. He suggests that fetuses can remember for at least a brief period. (2009)

Atypical
A sign of atypical development would be low physical movement within the womb
caused by infectious disease, smoking, alcohol, and drug use. Babies born to users
of cocaine, heroin, or methadone are at risk for a wide variety of problems, including
prematurity, low birth weight, physical defects, breathing difficulties, and death at
or around the time of birth (Bandstra et al., 2010; Howell, Coles, & Kable, 2008;
Schuetz & Eiden, 2006) as cited in Berk, (2012) When children have difficulty
breathing it can cause them not to meet certain milestones such as running, walking,
climbing and other physical activities,

Strategies for Families
Strategies that I would recommend to mothers would be stay healthy and dont do
drugs or take medications that are not prescribed from physician. Talk to your fetus
especially in the third trimester because he or she can hear and it will give the child
a head start cognitively and in preparation for language.

Social Factors
Teratogen is any environmental agent that causes damage during the prenatal
period. Other factors that contribute to damage to the fetus are the dose of the
agent. Is the teratogen hereditary? Or other negative influences such as poor
nutrition lack of medical care, smoking, and drinking alcohol.

Cultural Factors
Culture plays a huge role in prenatal development. Malnutrition occurs in many
cultures. Women, who are affected with malnutrition during the first trimester,
were more likely to have miscarriages or give birth to babies with physical defects.
Berk, (2012) By eating healthy and exercising regularly while pregnant, women can
overcome malnutrition. There are many resources for women who need assistance
with food and nutrition.

Groark, C., McCarthy, S. & Kirk, A. (2014). Early Child Development: From
Theory to Practice. Bridgepoint Education: San Diego, C

Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development. Boston: Pearson Education.

Childs, M., (1998) Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health,
Volume 13, Issue 2, Article: Prenatal Language Learning.