Developmental History
Aaron (not his real name) was 3 years old and 4 months and 5 days on the day his mother was interviewed for this case study report. Aaron has a medium structure but is tall for his age, he likes to move around a lot, he is now able to run and play on his own with little supervision especially if he is inside the house. He likes going to the groceries and playing with the cans on the shelves. He can speak in short sentences but still uses baby talk when he asks for something. His first word was Mama and he actually grunts and giggles a lot. He is not comfortable with strangers or with anything new.
He seems to have a slow to warm up temperament. But once he feels secure, he can actually be very friendly and interacts well with other people. He is potty trained and have started using pull-up diapers instead of the regular ones. He likes to work on coloring books and he has tons of scribbled papers. He gets bored watching TV, he does not even like Barney, but he likes music and he becomes very alert when he hears . He likes toys that he can move, bang, throw and manipulate. He already has good fine motor skills as he can hold his spoon and eat on his own. However he can’t still button his own shirts..
His favorite foods are oranges, vegetables and chicken. He also drinks apple juice with his meal. He still asks for his bottle when going to sleep but can use a sippy cup during the day. Aaron however sucks his thumb when he is sleepy or when he is feeling insecure. Health and Physical Condition Aaron was born through normal delivery, his mother was 25 when she gave birth and was the first born. His mother was healthy and did not have any severe medical conditions before and during the pregnancy. However, she had a case of urinary tract infection around 6 months into her pregnancy but was treated successfully with antibiotics.
She also had a positive disposition during her pregnancy and she ate the right foods and dutifully took her vitamins and regularly had her prenatal check-ups. Aaron passed the newborn screening test in flying colors, he was 7. 6 pounds, had the normal head circumference and height and he was already screaming when he came into the world. After 2 days in the hospital, he went home, however, he was supposed to be breastfeed but he had difficulty in it as his first feeding was from the bottle, his mother also had difficulty nursing him as she was a firs time mother.
The doctors advised that he be placed on the bottle on an infant formula. He did not have any problems after this. Aaron was overweight when he was 5 months old, he has a very regular sleeping and feeding schedule and he sticks to it even if there are distractions. He liked to jump on his mother’s lap and he used his feet more than his hands at this stage. At 6 months, he changed his milk formula and he suffered from constipation, he had to be placed on different milk formula which was not constipating and was on a soft diet. After 2 days, he was able to resume normal bowel movement.
He also had bouts of colic especially during the day. He does not cry much but when he does cry it took him a long time to quiet down. His mother noticed that he seemed to shiver when he cries and go blue when he does not get what he wants. When he is angry or upset, he will cough or make vomiting actions. The mother was alarmed with this behavior but when she talked to her pediatrician, he said that Aaron was merely trying to get his own way by vomiting and turning blue because when he checked him he was really just a normal child. The mother has learned not to reinforce vomiting or holding his breath and this have now disappeared.
At one year old, Aaron was hospitalized for diarrhea and vomiting, he was having high grade fever and was throwing up and had very loose bowels. He was brought to the hospital because he was already showing signs of dehydration. He stayed in the hospital for 3 days and came home fine. His teeth came out in pairs and started when he was 9 months old, at 1 year and 4 months, he already had 8. He seemed to have the colds and low grade fever whenever his teeth were coming out. He has not been dropped, had his head banged or fell from the stairs. He started walking at one year old and was running before he reached 2 years old.
He did not have any illnesses up to the time of the interview. Health and Medical Analysis From the case study presented, it seemed that Aaron’s major health condition that has brought about medical attention was on his digestive system. He had constipation, colic, indigestion; diarrhea and vomiting at a young age this would imply that he has a weak stomach or a very sensitive digestive system. He had been on infant formula since he was born and it could be that his stomach have not adapted as well as children who have been breastfeed (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000).
He also had been using distilled water since he was born and it could be that his stomach does not have the friendly bacteria that normal children have. The problem is that Aaron likes food; he has a healthy appetite but since he suffers from indigestion or diarrhea he might lose his love for eating because it was the source of his discomfort, however, at present Aaron has not shown any aversion to food. In the future, Aaron may have more instances of diarrhea because when he gets older, his mother would have lesser control over what he eats (Berk, 2005).
At present he is being taught to always wash his hands before eating and to not place anything on his mouth, but the difficulty is that he still sucks his thumb before going to sleep. It is recommended that the mother try to introduce Aaron to regular water and juice and to have him eat different foods so his stomach would be accustomed to it. It was also recommended that the mother bring this to the attention of the pediatrician and to learn more about how to keep the digestive system healthy and functioning well.
References
Berk, L. (2005). Factors affecting growth and physical health. In Infants and children: Prenatal
through middle childhood 5th ed (pp. 293-303). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Shonkoff, J. & Phillips, D. (2000). From neurons to neighborhoods: The science of early childhood development. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.
