Psychology Report: The Development of Liam from Birth to One Year

This report provides a detailed analysis of Liam's development from birth to one year, focusing on his cognitive, physical, and social growth. It begins by describing Liam's condition at birth, including his physical characteristics and sensory capabilities, and then traces his development through key ...Read More

Running head: THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 1
The Development of Liam from Birth to Age One
Name
Institution Affiliation

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 2
At birth
Liam was born at 36 weeks through the C-section and weighed 3.5 Kgs which was within
the normal range. Before the age of one year, he had undergone a lot of changes and had become
a more transformed person unlike what he was at birth. According to the Piaget’s cognitive
stages of childhood development, from birth to age two years is the sensory stage where the child
mostly learns through their sense and the manipulation of different objects (Piaget, 2017). One
thing that I learned from baby Liam is that it can be very easy to measures the physical changes
that take place in the body of your child such as weight and height, but in the process, miss to see
what is happening inside their brain (Keenan, Evans & Crowley, 2016).
By the time Liam was being born, he was already fully aware of the basic things that he
needed to perform to survive. This includes activities such as breathing, feeding through the
breast which was his main source of food, sleeping and going to the toilet. However, it can still
be argued that Liam did things involuntarily and the part of the brain which would help him
recognize that he was performing these activities were not well developed. But more
importantly, there are actions that Liam could not completely perform as a result of the
underdeveloped brain. Among such included perception, thought, memory, language and
physical coordination of body parts.
At birth, Liam was well equipped with all the essential senses including vision, hearing,
sense of scent, palatability, and touch. Regarding sight, his eyes were half the size those of an
adult, and it was clear that they sometimes struggled to open. He seemed to uncoordinated eye
movement as they would move spontaneously from place to another. More so when observed
critically he was cross-eyed, and his focus was limited to close ranges. His eyes close instantly
when exposed to sunlight, and this showed that he could detect light and he could cry a lot in the

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 3
dark. In regards to hearing, Liam could startle in response to loud sounds, and he seemed to
listen when the mother speaks. The baby could shortly cease any movement when a conversation
began he seemed to prefer the mother’s voice to a low sounding that of the father. At this point,
it was clear that the baby's taste buds were well developed and this is why he preferred the
mother’s breastmilk to formula. The reaction that he gave one day when he was offered lemon
was a proof that the taste buds were active. It was clear that Liam preferred the mother to other
people and the primary way he identified her was through smell.
Liam’s arms and legs moved most of the time freely. He seemed to feel more secure
when cuddled gently close to the mother. At birth, Liam could flex arms, and his hands were
often fisted no matter how much one could try to uncurl them. The neck was unable to support
the head thus could not sit. Liam could only communicate through crying and gurgling. At this
age, Liam was alert for only one in every ten hours. He seemed to enjoy a lot of eye contact and
could easily recognize the mother’s voice. When stimulated he could cry and mostly trusted her
mother’s over everybody else.
At six months
At this age, Liam was entirely a different person from what he was at birth. From a
dormant baby whose main activity was sleeping and breastfeeding, he could now perform
numerous activities in a day. Unlike before his eyesight was fully developed and he could notice
not only objects but also their size. This was illustrated by the way he could reach out to small
objects with his fingers and the larger ones with both hands. More so Liam could easily
recognize items that were near or close to him and also understood how some of them were used.
With this Liam could shake his noisemakers harder wanting more sound to come out. When an

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 4
object was taken away from him, he could search for it briefly, and all this demonstrated his
well-developed cognition.
Liam was also beginning to learn to communicate and could pronounce consonants such
as “ba” “da” “ga” among many others. The baby could babble words such as “bababab," and he
could recognize his name. It was also clear that at this age Liam understood some words such as
"eat" and "bath." Liam was also starting to use his voice to get attention and express some of his
emotion such as happiness or anger.
When it came to movement, Liam was learning to crawl, and he could push to a crawling
position and sometimes rock back and forth while on his knees. He could stand with help and
also be able to bounce back and forth when supported. The baby could sit when well reinforced
and was able to pass objects from one hand to the other. All the new-born reflexes had
disappeared, and he could now roll in all direction.
Michel could most of the time respond happily to the familiar faces around. He could see
snob strangers and cry when left alone with them. More so Liam could startle at loud noises and
at some point in time when loud music was switched on suddenly he sobbed uncontrollably outof
of fear. Socially, Liam was very active and could often smile to get one attention and more so
responds when one chooses to interact with him. He could easily express pleasure and happiness
through laughter and sadness and displeasure by crying uncontrollably.
To easily understand the environment, Liam almost placed in the mouth everything he
came across including his toys. He also tried to reach for anything within his view and could be
able to move in the direction that he wanted to go. In this case, when the mother entered the
room, Liam could throw his arms up and leans towards her. He could also look at the floor when
something he is holding fell and this showed that he knows where the item fell. Liam also was

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 5
highly attracted to bright colors and could reach out for any lively object within his reach. At six
months it was clear that Liam was continually learning new things, making connections and also
trying to understand how the world operates as the days went by (Winnicott, 2018).
A day in Liams life at age one
Liam wakes up at 7:00 am in the morning, and the first thing he does is to breastfeed.
After a short while, breakfast is prepared, and the mother has to feed him since he dislikes cereal
a lot, and that is what he is taking today. The boy is fully grown now, and breast milk alone
cannot sustain him hence the need for extra calories from the diet.
Photo showing Liam being fed by the mother

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 6
After this the weather is fine, and thus the mother decides to take the boy out for a walk
and play. This is at around 9:30, and for the next one and a half hour the boy is fully engaged in
outdoor activities. Among the events that he participates in includes search and find, building
towers, water play and playing on the balance beam.
A photo of Liam playing with water
A photo of Liam building towers

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 7
Photo of Liam playing hide and seek
After this Liam is extremely tired and he sips some juice before he could to sleep for the
next one and half hours. Throughout the day Liam drinks milk and water, and this could be
probably close to 8 ounces in total.
Photo of Liam sleeping
At around 1:30 pm Liam wakes up, and he is ready for another meal. At this time he eats
mashed potatoes mixed with milk which he likes a lot. In the afternoon Liam is back to play, and
at this time he is cruising around the coffee table while playing with his toys.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 8
Photo of Liam playing indoors
At around 3 pm he is given a snack, and after this, he is sleepy once more time. After
sleeping for close to one hour Liam wakes up and continues to play around until 5:00 pm when
his dad arrives from work. He feeds with his bottle once more as dinner is being prepared. At
6:30 pm dinner mainly baby food chicken with veggies plus dry cereal is eaten. At 7:00 pm, the
baby is ready and taken to bed after some stories and nursing at the breast.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LIAM 9
References
Keenan, T., Evans, S., & Crowley, K. (2016). An introduction to child development. Sage.
Piaget, J. (2017). The child's conception of physical causality. Routledge.
Winnicott, D. W. (2018). Thinking about children. Routledge.