Healthcare professionals must be aware of the changes that a person undergoes physically and mentally at the various stages of life to provide adequate medical care. In this process, not only does the body grow, but the brain becomes bigger and more complex. 

     Senior Julia Eakes comments, “Knowing how the body and brain grow is important to help create cures for a variety of conditions that develop within the body, especially mental illness and Alzheimer’s.”  

     Neonates are babies from the ages of birth to one month, and infants are one month to one year old. In the first year of life, there is a long and substantial list of developmental changes. Neonates have the highest pulse rates in the life span development process, ranging from 100 to 180 beats per minute. Their respirations are also the highest with 30 to 60 breaths per minute. Neonates are primary nose breathers.