Explain physical hazards during Infancy Period.

There can be many hazards holding the healthy development of the infants. The physical hazards that can hamper the growth and development of the infant are as follows:

Birth Complications: There can be serious impact on the growth of infant because of birth complications. If the delivery is cesarean, there can be anoxia, a condition in which there is temporary loss of oxygen to the baby’s brain.

Such a condition, can damage baby’s brain tissues which will show up in the later stage. Use of too much medicines before delivery or at the time of delivery can also affect infant’s growth.

Multiple Births: Infants who were twins or triplets have more chances of defects and compromised heath because they had to share everything since conception. Therefore there are high risks of weakness and improper growth in multiple deliveries.

Post Maturity: If the natural pains does not start and the baby is delivered after the NDD (Normal, Date of Delivery), the weight of the baby starts increasing. There is also the likelihood that forceps may be needed to do the deliveries. Many a times there can be severe effects due to the use of instruments on the infants though not always.

PMaturity: There can be many reasons for a premature delivery of the baby. The baby may be born premature because of complications during pregnancy or due to sudden arise of need of delivery because of fetal movements. Premature infants have high, risks for improper growth.

Sometimes premature neonates also are still births. Even if they survive, they remain weak and they take longer time to reach the milestones appropriate for their age.

Malnutrition: Another hazard to growth in infancy is malnutrition. If the family is impoverished and is not able to provide enough milk for proper bone development, the infant may not be able to grow up in a healthy way.

Due to malnutrition, the immune system also become weak and there are more chances of getting sick frequently. Use of more medicines makes the infant resistant to medicines.

Illnesses: Illnesses such as asthma, epilepsy, jaundice make the child’s immune system weak. The child is not able to take all types of food items because of these illnesses and his overall development is hampered.

Pollution and Allergies: Many infants have allergies to pollutants, food items, plants and flowers and this may make them ill. They may get rashes, nausea and vomiting frequently. This act as a hazard in healthy growth of infants.

Contaminated Water: If the infants are provided contaminated water, there are chances of getting diarrhea again and again. This also makes immune system weak. The infant is not able to gain weight as he/she is not able to retain the nutrients in the body due to dysentery.

Artificial Feed: It is also seen that infants who are raised on artificial feeds other than mother’s milk also grow at a compromised rate.