Development begins with conception, it occurs when fertilization creates a zygote. All the other cells in the body develop from this cell. Each of the cells contain messages from a parent carried in the chromosomes that in the nucleus. The prenatal period extends from conception to birth, usually in the nine months of pregnancy. The prenatal period is divided into three phases: 1.The germinal stage-the first two weeks after conception 2 .The embryonic stage- two weeks to two months 3.The fetal stage- two months to birth
The placenta is organ that allows oxygen and nutrients to pass into the fetus from the mother’s bloodstream and bodily wastes to pass out to the mother. Maternal nutrition is very important as the developing fetus needs a variety of essential nutrients. Motor development refers to the progression of muscular coordination required for physical activities. Basic motor skills include grasping and reaching for objects, sitting up, walking and running. Early progress in motor skills has been attributed almost entirely to the process of maturation. Maturation is development that reflects gradual unfolding of one’s genetic blueprint. Developmental norms indicate the typical age at which individuals display different behaviors and abilities. Cross cultural research has highlighted the dynamic interplay between experience and maturation in motor development. Researchers have shown a keen interest in how infants-mother attachments are formed early in life. Behaviorists have argued that the infant-mother attachment develops because mothers are associated with the powerful, reinforcing event of feeding. In 1978 Marry Ainsworth and he colleagues found that these attachments fall into three categories: Secure attachment, anxious –ambivalent attachment and avoidant attachment. Mothers who are sensitive and responsive about the children’s need are more likely to have secure attachment rather than the mother who insensitive or inconsistent to the child responding. Evidence suggests that the quality of the attachment relationship can have important consequences for children’s