the importance of periodontal disease for your infant
The Importance of Periodontal Disease for Your Infant
An infant is usually the more specialized or formalized synonym for baby, the tiny, live offspring of an adult. The word can also be used to describe juveniles of other living organisms. The term “infant” is derived from the Greek word “anima,” meaning “life.” Today the word is applied to denote any child under the age of one year. “Baby” is the British term for any baby, and “infant” is often used in an ordinary sense regarding newborns.
We rarely hear the word “infant” used today concerning older children or adults. Some would say that newborns and babies are not seen as worthy human beings, while everyone else is. Some would also say that babies have small, incomplete brains, and cannot reason, whereas everyone else can reason, learn, and perform all these skills. Still, others would say that a baby cannot speak yet, while everyone else can speak at least to some extent. This last explanation seems to be the most popular, but we can look at it another way.
In the first half of the 20th century, a term for a baby was born – the “preterm infant.” This was an infant who had not been born through normal birth processes but had been brought into the world via cesarean section. This baby would have been born before he/she could even speak. This infant would have been born either through mistakes in surgery or through the mother’s trauma or death at the birth site. It is estimated that between ten and twenty percent of all cesarean births lead to preterm newborns.
These infants have a concise amount of time before they “give up the ghost,” as they are often referred to. They will stay alive in the womb and then come out into the world but will most likely die within a couple of weeks. This short amount of time makes it very difficult for the mother to breastfeed for that time, and it can be challenging for the father to care for them. The father may need to seek care from someone other than the mother during this period. If the birth father does not care for his infant, then this can create all kinds of problems with the baby once he/she is born.
Preterm babies are not always bad. There are some beautiful examples of these babies. These babies have learned to live independently, have their bowel movements, and can even speak. They can suffer from some common problems, however. For instance, premature babies can experience breathing problems, urinary tract problems, or congenital heart disease.
When I met my baby, she was three weeks old. She was in excellent health, but because she was so small, her pediatrician thought she might be a premature baby and sent her to the NICU. When the baby’s doctor explained that she was a newborn and could not breathe or speak, he suggested we take her home immediately. That was the day my little girl learned how important it was to fall asleep on her own. As I watched my baby enjoying the first hours of sleep in her crib, I realized how fortunate we were to have such a precious baby.
Every significant infant development cannot be predicted. No one can tell what the baby will look like in just two months. I watched as my baby grew bigger every single day. During the first few months, I watched as she grew more alert, louder, more coordinated. I also watched as she started to learn sign language and the number of teeth she would develop.
While most of the time, significant infant development can be prevented, sometimes it is too late. We did not know that I could not stop the decline in my daughter’s health when it was too late. It was so comforting to see my baby healthy and whole, despite all of the hardships we faced, that she would go on to enjoy her life with joy and peace, even if some of those hardships might have been avoidable.
