The Brain

Each interaction between a baby and the world, (particularly with people baby is bonding with) develops the neural connections and integrates the mind and the body systems – this is the basis of learning.

Pre-birth

•  The neural tube forms at 3 weeks and develops into the spine, the spinal cord and the nervous system.
• By 4 months gestation the brain structure is in place.

The brain of a new born accounts for 10% or his total body weight in contrast with 2% in adults. By the end of the first year an infant’s brain increases in size by about two and a half times. By the end of the 5th year, brain size is three times what it was at birth. At all stages the male brain is slightly larger than the female brain.

Brain structure 

• The Brain Stem. Involuntary reflexes – heartbeat, respiration, states of sleep and waking. The most active part of a baby’s brain but makes just one tenth of the adult brain.
• The Medulla controls involuntary reflexes, which include the heart and respiration and the states of sleep and being awake.
• The Pons Varoli is the relay station, also responsible for the breathing reflexes.

At birth, the regions of the brain involved with sleeping, waking, feeding and excreting (hind brain and midbrain) are most active. The cortex is the least developed part of the brain. The areas of the brain that are involved with motor development are; the basal ganglia which control both the large subconscious movements of skeletal muscles and the consciously controlled gross movements and the cerebellum which controls balance,
coordination, posture and fine motor skills.

Parts of the brain that deal with controlled movement, complex thinking and language development (in the cerebral cortex) take the whole of the early years period to develop fully. Development occurs through experiences which lead to a progression of improvements, refinements and adjustments.

Brain development occurs in the following order:

1. coordination and balance improve
2. increased skills with voluntary movements
3. improvements in hearing, vision and understanding words
4. refinements in attention, memory, creativity, planning and monitoring behaviour

Experiences in the first three years are stored and drawn upon later in life.

The brain is protected by:

• The skull
• The membranes called the meninges
• A selective blood-brain barrier limiting access of materials to the brain tissue
• Floating in cerebrospinal fluid