Perinatal period of child development

The perinatal period is a period that begins with the twenty-eighth week of intrauterine development and ends with the first week of a child's life.

It is characteristic that from the twenty-eighth week the development of the child becomes so perfect that he feels his mother's heart beating, distinguishes the shades of her voice. Therefore, it is very important to always address the child as gently and calmly as possible. It is necessary constantly to gently stroke the stomach, because any touch, he also feels and very often responds to it in his own way, smiling or frowning at the same time. The baby's lungs are still underdeveloped, but if he wishes to be born, then there will be no big problems for him, because experienced experts will always help him to cope with the difficulties.

The perinatal period of the child's development is characterized by its activity on the twenty-ninth and the thirtieth week. He is already free to move his arms and legs, knows how to stretch and even frown. If the child has something to worry about, he reacts to it with more powerful jerks, and this should alert the mother.

Very quickly the body of the child begins to grow stronger, and by the end of the thirty-first week he begins to accumulate muscle mass. But some organs are still not fully developed. The navel is still low. The boys still do not descend into the scrotum of the testicles, but in girls the labia is not completely closed. Due to the appearance of a layer of epithelial cells in the alveolar sacs, the child's lungs are straightened and he can already breathe freely. Mother's blood has a unique feature. Despite the very thin placenta, it never gets into the blood of the child and does not mix with it, although nutrients, water and waste freely penetrate the placenta.

Perinatal development of the fetus on the thirty-second week is noteworthy in that it is located head down, that is, in this pose, and he was prepared to be born. This posture for the performance of labor is considered correct, and is called the head presentation. But it also happens that the child can turn the buttocks down. This is already fraught with certain difficulties and is considered a pathology, therefore special help from midwives is required.

The thirty-third and thirty-fourth weeks are characterized by the fact that the child is already fully prepared for his birth. Its weight reaches about two kilograms. The hair on the head is getting thicker. If the child was born now, then he would not have been considered prematurely already, he would have breathed independently and did not cause much anxiety.

The perinatal period at the thirty-fifth week is characterized by the fact that the child has fully grown nails, and they are so long that he can even scratch himself before his birth. The fatty tissue is permanently deposited, due to which the baby's shoulders become round and soft. The color of the eyes in all newborns is the same - blue. But after some time it changes.

Thirty-sixth week is due to the fact that the face already has all the forms of a real baby. Cheeks plump and smooth, the muscles of the lips are sufficiently developed, since the child is still in the womb of the mother is intensively sucking her fingers. His skull is soft and at birth has a slightly flattened property, but there is nothing wrong with that.

And the birth of a baby is rapidly approaching. He grows, as they say, "by leaps and bounds." The thirty-seventh week comes, during which the fat cells continue to accumulate intensively and the fat deposition is approximately fourteen grams per day. The child constantly increases in volume and descends ever lower and lower into the hip area of the mother's body. During this period, she feels that it makes her breathe easier. The uterus presses on the bladder with great force, so it is much more often to empty it.

The most intensive development in the perinatal period is observed at the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth week. Fetal weight reaches about three kilograms.

Childbirth may occur at any time. The cervix can begin to unfold, and the fetus can appear at any time. Therefore, we must constantly react to any, even the slightest changes in the body.

So, the long-awaited fortieth week comes, pregnancy approaches its final stage. The fruit is finally ready for birth.

The newborn usually has a length of forty-eight to fifty-one centimeters and weighs about three and a half kilograms.

At the first breath of the child, the lungs are filled with air, the blood is gradually enriched with oxygen. The basic life support systems are completely reconstructed. The main source of nutrients is mother's milk. The weight of the child's body in the first days after birth may be slightly reduced. This is due to the fact that the body is not ready to immediately adapt to new environmental conditions.

Temperature changes also adversely affect the condition of the baby's body. But very soon the body adapts to the outside world the perinatal period ends here.