CARE OF CHILDREN IN

EARLY CHILDHOOD
 I. INTRODUCTION
A.Definition and Scope of Early Childhood
The Field of Pediatrics
Children are the world’s most important resource.
Pediatrics is the sole discipline concerned with all aspects
of the well being infants, children, and adolescents,
including their health; their physical, mental, and
psychological growth and development; and their
opportunity to achieve full potential as adults.
 Midwives must be concerned not only with particular
organ systems and biologic processes, but also with
environmental and social influences, which have a major
impact on the physical emotional, and mental health and
social being of children and their families. Midwives must
be advocates for the individual child and for all children,
irrespective of culture, religion, gender, race or ethnicity or
of local, stats, or national boundaries. Children cannot
advocate for themselves. The more politically,
economically, or socially disenfranchised a population or a
nation is, greater the need for advocacy for children by the
profession whose purpose is to advocate the well-being of
children.
 The health problems of children and youth vary widely
between and within populations in the nations of the world
depending on a number of often interrelated factors. These
factors include:
1. Economic consideration (economic disparities)
2. Educational, social, and cultural considerations
3. Prevalence and ecology of infectious agents and their host
4. Climate and geography
5. Agricultural resources and practices (nutritional resources)
6. Stage of industrialization and urbanization
7. The gene frequencies for some disorders
8. The health and social welfare infrastructure available within this
countries.
Children in poverty
The poverty rates are higher for children than
adults are highest for infants and toddlers. Children
who are poor have higher than average rates of
death and illness from almost all causes.
Many factors associated with poverty are
responsible for this illness; crowding, poor diet,
environmental pollution, poor education, and
stress.
 Health workers have a responsibility both to mitigate the
effects of poverty on their patients and to contribute to efforts
to reduce the number of children living in poverty. Clinicians
should ask parents about theirs economic resources, adverse
changes in their financial situation, and the family’s attempts
to cope. Encouraging concrete methods of coping, suggesting
ways to reduce stressful social circumstances while
increasing social networks that are supportive, and referring
patients and their families to appropriate welfare, job training
and family agencies can significantly improve the health and
functioning of children at risk when their families live in
poverty.
 In many cases, special services, specially social
services, need to be added to the traditional
medical services; outreach is required to find and
encourage parents to use health services and bring
their children into the health care system.
Pediatricians also have the responsibility to
contribute to and advocate for safety net services
for impoverished children within outside the
boundaries of their country.
 The Challenges
Corcerns about the aforementioned problems of children
throughout the world have generated three sets of goals.
• The first set includes that all families have access to adequate
perinatal, preschool and family planning services.
• Second set of goal adresses the need for reducing unintended
injuries and environmental risks, for meeting nutritional needs
and health education.
• A third set of goals covers the need for research and
biomedical and behavioral science, in fundamentals of
bioscience and human bioology and in the particular problems
of mothers and children.
 Child Health Care
Pediatrics is a word derived from the Greek word pais,
meaning “child”. The care of childbearing and childrearing
families is a major focus of midwifery practices, because to have
healthy adults you must have healthy children. To have healthy
children, it is important to promote the health of the childbearing
woman and her family from the time before child is born until
they reach adulthood. That makes both preconceptual and
prenatal care essential contributions to the health of a woman
and fetus and to a family’s emotional preparation for
childbearing and childrearing.
 As children grow, families need continued health
supervision and support. As children reach maturity and
plan for their own families, a new cycle begins and new
support becomes necessary. The midwives’ role in all these
paces focuses on promoting healthy growth and
development of a child and family in both health and
illness.
 The goals of child health care are necessarily broad
because the scope of practice (the range of services and care
that may be provided by a midwife based on state
requirements) is so broad. The range of practice includes:
• Care of infants during perinatal period (six weeks before
conception to six weeks after birth)
• Care of children through adolescence
• Care in setting as varied as the birthing room, the
pediatric intensive care unit and the home.
 THANK YOU!
Prepared by: Ms. Chandaury A. Dawila