Anatomical and Physiological Differences between a Newborn and School-Aged Children - Coursework Example

Running Head: ANATOMICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A NEWBORN (0-1 YRS) AND SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN (5-11 YRS). Anatomical and physiological differences Name Institution Date Anatomical and physiological differences between a newborn (0-1 yrs) and school aged children (5-11 yrs). Introduction Anatomy is the study of human morphological features. The study has two divisions: the study of human anatomical structures that do not require aided vision(anthropotonomy), and the study of anatomical structures that require instruments like microscopes for clarity because they are minute (microscopic anatomy). However physiology could be referred to as the study of functions of living structures. Anatomical features are features that the body structures of organisms relate to. They help in shaping the physical characteristics of organism, meaning they are responsible for the character of organisms (e.g. liver and brain).different people have different physical characteristics that make them unique; for example the blue eyes of a person, a lady seven feet tall and a man able to bend the hand past known limits   Anatomical and physiological features are related and play a great role in deciding the organism’s way of life as well as survival for example marine life demands for a different respiratory system for survival under water as opposed to organisms living on land. They also determine the lifespan of organisms. However lots of research has been carried out on anatomical and physiological features of organisms, with emphasis on human beings, due to the push for longer and better life, and as a measure to reduce the medical complications that have led to severe loss of body parts as well as unexpected abnormalities in the human generations. As a result , researchers from different nationalities came up with the study of the physical and anatomical features and narrowed down their research to age groups, the study proved to link anatomical and physiological differences to age differences, and that not only does the age matter but is the concentration point for both the strength and weaknesses, with clear differences in both anatomical and physical features for different ages .the research, for instance, shows some differences between 0-1 year old babies and 5-11 years old school-aged children, which include : Anatomical differences Musculoskeletal The head of infants have two soft spots called fontanels (areas where the skull bones haven’t fused together). Newborns have two fontanels; the posterior which closes from birth to three months and the anterior which allows the baby’s head to pass through the birth canal, after which the head will always look long, then with age the head comes round as any other human being’s. It closes 10-16 months. The thoracic cavity of infants is not only compliant but also softer. The weakness of the muscles of the abdomen is the reason why the abdomen looks distended in infants. Eyes The eyes of the children aged below six months may change colours, this is also true with the Caucasian babies whose eyes tend to change colours, only to attain the true eye colour between six to twelve months, and this is a characteristic that would never show in any school going age. Hair While children aged 5-11 years have their hair intact and which do not fall out, it is quite a different scenario with the one year olds and below as they tend to loose hair as these fall out. Their hair also has a different texture with change in hair colour progressively .this is not so with 5-11 year olds as theirs tend to have attained their full texture and colour. Limbs In as much as the children of the school going age have fully formed feet and stronger legs, the age below one year is experiencing challenges in walking as well as slow transformation of the feet, which are always pointing inwards due to the child’s curling in the womb, this will fade with the increase in age until the babies will finally reach a state they can walk on their own without support. Brain It is good to note that at the age of six months a fetus develops a brain whose weight is half of an adult’s while in a year it will be the size of an adult ape. The brain development has a great influence on any person’s ability to grasp ideas and also be creative .Due to this other children are going to school while some have to wait for appropriate age. children less than one year have brains that haven’t fully developed and due to this can only learn their environmental and perform simple mental tests like calling mama and crying to show their demand for attention, in comparison with five year olds whose brain can process information faster and perform higher tasks, they can also manage feelings and social situations with greater independence as well as enthusiastically solve problems. The development of the child’s brain will greatly be based on the factors in his or her environment as well as the experience the child is receiving. The development of the brain is greatly affected by diet and hormonal balance. (Robert & Lockhart, 1959) Dental formation The infants are born without teeth but only teeth buds, they start developing the teeth between four to seven months of age and therefore their chief source of nutrition is the mother’s milk, however there will be the growth of teeth after some time, but these will be deciduous teeth, completely unable to chew, however by the age of three the children do acquire twenty teeth. They will later be replaced with stronger permanent teeth. Children aged five to eleven years have stronger teeth that will eat the solid foods and crack snacks (Walker, 2001). Heart The fetus always has an unstable heart rate, increasing the rate by 3.3 until after the ninth week. In early stages the heart beat rate is 80-85 .however in the ninth week the rate will have increased to 155 to 195 beats per minute. This is so different to the constant heart beat rate of the children aged 5-11 which is 72 beats per minute (bpm). Muscles Children less than one year can’t be able to lift loads as much as five years above due to the muscles of the infants still developing and also very soft. With growth in age there is a great significance in the amount of work the child will be able to handle. This is attributed to the muscles in the body being not fully formed so as to be able to carry out their functions fully, as opposed to the case of five to eleven years who handle greater workloads. Skin The skin of children one year and below is always growing and therefore rapidly stretches to fit the body size; it is always delicate and susceptible to any form of dermatological disease caused by bacteria, as well as weather conditions and other environmental hazards. Most mothers do take necessary protective measures on their infants as well as avoiding over- exposure of infants to sun’s ultra-violet rays. This is not the case with the school going age whose skin is resistant to a lot of weather conditions (British Association of Dermatology, 1990). Body proportion The head of an infant is always larger than the rest the body right while still a fetus, and which do change to be adult- like with increase in age., This also applies to the ratio of the body’s surface area to weight of the body. By the age of five and above these characteristics will have come to the ratio of adult’s. Respiratory system There is a great contrast between the airways of the infants and the children of school-going age. Infants tend to have a narrower airway (especially at circoid cartilage) compared to 5-11 years who have this at the vocal cord level. Other considerations on infant airways include soft tissues, short and low trachea with cartilages prone to collapsing and also a larger tongue compared to oral cavity, all these make infants have respiratory distress incase of nose congestion and also making them susceptible to inflammation from foreign objects as well as swellings from edema. These characteristics are not prevalent in 5-11 years (Terman, 1914). Physiological differences There is not only a great contrast in their anatomical differences but also physiological differences are evident as can be seen here: Metabolic rate    Metabolic rate is usually higher in infants than adults and due to this they require lots of energy and oxygen in order to support this, any sickness and subjection to stress furthers the metabolic rate. Even though the children aged five years and above have a higher metabolic rate than adults, it could not match the infants’ metabolic rate. This results in rapid growth and development of the infants (Crelin, 1973). Fluid requirement The fluid requirement of children aged one year and below is very high due to the higher metabolic rate and this is why water constitutes 70-80 percent of the newborn baby’s weight. Therefore conditions that might cause fluid loss and dehydration like diarrhea, vomiting, and even factors that increase metabolic rate are discouraged in the infants. This cannot be the case of school going children who might have sixty percent of their total weight represented by water. Blood circulation The blood volume that circulates around an infant in a unit weight is much more than 5-11 year olds. This can even be more by twenty-five percent. An infant can have a greater shock if 200millilitres of blood is lost from the body, than the school going age. Though behind all these differences there have been some little similarities in the anatomical and physiological features for example the presence of the nervous system in both of the ages, the nervous system which includes nerves and spinal cord, is very relevant in coordination of muscles as well as response to reactions when a both are subjected to different environmental and physical conditions, that’s why just like the five year olds, the infants will respond to a burn in the same way. Conclusion Though all human beings have same body parts, the fact that anatomical and physiological features vary across all ages is irreversible and has proved to be the basis of many scientific findings on human behavior as well as their ability to perform various tasks. The age in discussion (0-1years and 5-11 years) display a great difference in both physiological and anatomical features, even though they both haven’t reached maturity so it will be futile to refute the relationship existence between various responses of humans to their ages in any social, economical, or even spiritual situations. Basing anatomical and physiological differences on age is the key to success in any physical assessment. References Robert, H. & Lockhart, D. (1959). Anatomy of the Human Body. Philadelphia: Lippincott Co. British Association of Dermatology (1990). The British journal of dermatology. California: H. K. Lewis Publishers. Crelin, E. S. (1973). Functional anatomy of the newborn. Yale: Yale University Press. Walker, M. (2001). Breastfeeding Management for the Clinician: Using the Evidence. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Terman, L.M. (1914).The hygiene of the school child. New York: Houghton Mifflin company, Read More

The thoracic cavity of infants is not only compliant but also softer. The weakness of the muscles of the abdomen is the reason why the abdomen looks distended in infants. Eyes The eyes of the children aged below six months may change colours, this is also true with the Caucasian babies whose eyes tend to change colours, only to attain the true eye colour between six to twelve months, and this is a characteristic that would never show in any school going age. Hair While children aged 5-11 years have their hair intact and which do not fall out, it is quite a different scenario with the one year olds and below as they tend to loose hair as these fall out.

Their hair also has a different texture with change in hair colour progressively .this is not so with 5-11 year olds as theirs tend to have attained their full texture and colour. Limbs In as much as the children of the school going age have fully formed feet and stronger legs, the age below one year is experiencing challenges in walking as well as slow transformation of the feet, which are always pointing inwards due to the child’s curling in the womb, this will fade with the increase in age until the babies will finally reach a state they can walk on their own without support.

Brain It is good to note that at the age of six months a fetus develops a brain whose weight is half of an adult’s while in a year it will be the size of an adult ape. The brain development has a great influence on any person’s ability to grasp ideas and also be creative .Due to this other children are going to school while some have to wait for appropriate age. children less than one year have brains that haven’t fully developed and due to this can only learn their environmental and perform simple mental tests like calling mama and crying to show their demand for attention, in comparison with five year olds whose brain can process information faster and perform higher tasks, they can also manage feelings and social situations with greater independence as well as enthusiastically solve problems.

The development of the child’s brain will greatly be based on the factors in his or her environment as well as the experience the child is receiving. The development of the brain is greatly affected by diet and hormonal balance. (Robert & Lockhart, 1959) Dental formation The infants are born without teeth but only teeth buds, they start developing the teeth between four to seven months of age and therefore their chief source of nutrition is the mother’s milk, however there will be the growth of teeth after some time, but these will be deciduous teeth, completely unable to chew, however by the age of three the children do acquire twenty teeth.

They will later be replaced with stronger permanent teeth. Children aged five to eleven years have stronger teeth that will eat the solid foods and crack snacks (Walker, 2001). Heart The fetus always has an unstable heart rate, increasing the rate by 3.3 until after the ninth week. In early stages the heart beat rate is 80-85 .however in the ninth week the rate will have increased to 155 to 195 beats per minute. This is so different to the constant heart beat rate of the children aged 5-11 which is 72 beats per minute (bpm).

Muscles Children less than one year can’t be able to lift loads as much as five years above due to the muscles of the infants still developing and also very soft. With growth in age there is a great significance in the amount of work the child will be able to handle. This is attributed to the muscles in the body being not fully formed so as to be able to carry out their functions fully, as opposed to the case of five to eleven years who handle greater workloads. Skin The skin of children one year and below is always growing and therefore rapidly stretches to fit the body size; it is always delicate and susceptible to any form of dermatological disease caused by bacteria, as well as weather conditions and other environmental hazards.

Most mothers do take necessary protective measures on their infants as well as avoiding over- exposure of infants to sun’s ultra-violet rays.

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