Low birth weight infants include those born too early, as well as those suffering from retarded intrauterine growth. In the short-term, one reason this measure is important is the strong relationship between birth weight and infant mortality and morbidity (prone to disease). Low birth weight babies (less than 5 lbs 8 oz) begin their lives in neonatal intensive care units at great personal and financial costs.
Low birth weight is also a good long-term measure, as these babies are at much higher risk for a host of developmental and physical problems (Bertrand et al 2002). In addition, birth weight sheds some light on the status of the overall system that supports children and mothers, and it reflects interrelated community issues such as socioeconomic status, race, maternal age, education, access to health care, and tobacco, alcohol, and drug use.
Babies born small at full term may show different temperament characteristics than normal-weight babies, according to a study that also found that the way a baby’s mother responds to this sometimes-troublesome behavior can affect infant development (Bertrand et al 2002).
The study, published in the December 2002 issue of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, notes that some smaller babies’ early experiences, their home environment and the way their mothers perceive and interact with them affect the babies’ performance on several infant development measurements, says lead author Kathleen S. Gorman, Ph.D., of the University of Rhode Island.
Mothers who perceive their small babies as difficult are less involved with and less responsive to their infants, and these infants score lower on developmental tests compared to babies whose mothers were more sensitive to their dispositions, the study found.
Among small for gestational age infants, a perception of more difficult temperament in the first 3 months was associated with subsequently lower-quality parental behavior in ways that........
