Newborn literally means the new born, or the human being in the period from birth to the twenty-eighth day of life.
Before talking about the newborn and its development process, let’s see some other terms that in some way can more or less correctly also be associated with newborns.
- premature : the human being born before the 37th week of gestation;
- infante: (from the Latin infans = mute) the human being who is not yet able to speak;
- lattante : (synonym of suckling) the human being in the breastfeeding period, from 4 weeks to one year of life;
- childhood : generic term that indicates the time period starting from the end of the neonatal period, and which is distinguished in early childhood (the first two years) in second childhood (from 2 to 6 years) in third childhood (from 11.5 years in males and at ages 8 to 13 when their pubertal development begins);
- weaned : (synonymous with weaned), the human being who is no longer breastfed (around the 12th month of age);
- child: strictly speaking, the term ‘child’ should be used to indicate the human being aged between 3 and 6 years: small child to indicate the one between the first and second year of infancy. However, depending on the context in which it is used, the word child indicates someone who has not reached puberty and is still in elementary school. It is also common practice to use the term child to refer to any pediatric human being.
- child : for some, the term child is synonymous with child, but for the European Union child is “a person under the age of eighteen”.
Newborn development
Katherine Johnson, M.D., is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist with clinical expertise in general obstetrics and gynecology, family planning, women’s health, and gynecology.
She is affiliated with the Obstetrics and Gynecology division at an undisclosed healthcare institution and the online platform, Maternicity.com.