Nurturing your Baby for the First Year
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A number of psychologists have devoted study to determine how the human mind develops. Over the years, these studies have unerringly established the importance of early development. Foremost psychologists Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson and Mary Ainsworth have all contributed theories emphasizing the importance of nurturing your baby during infancy.
Sigmund Freud postulated that infants are orally-preoccupied. The mouth is their area of interest and satisfaction is achieved by feeding and thumbsucking. Thus, attachment is fostered with the caregiver who provides feeding, which is typically the mother. Freud has been criticized by later psychologists for being too limited and focused on sexuality as the motivation for human behavior. However, his contention in this aspect of infant development finds similarity in Erikson’s. According to Erikson, infants are at a stage where they either develop trust or mistrust. This developmental stage will have a lifelong impact on the infant, influencing how he sees the world and relates to people even through adulthood. At this stage, when an infant’s needs for food, warmth and comfort are provided for, the infant learns that he can trust the people around him to respond to his needs and take good care of him. He then perceives that the world is a good place to live in. On the other hand, when an infant’s demands for these things are consistently unmet, he learns mistrust instead.
Ainsworth has introduced the term secure attachment to denote how infants use the mother as an anchor in exploring the world. Babies who are securely attached to their mothers or significant caregiver have a secure base that they use in exploring the world. Securely attached babies are confident in moving away from the mother to play, though he still glances at her in intervals to keep tabs on her. They respond positively when picked up by others and are mostly content to play when put back down. By contrast, an insecurely attached infant exhibits ambivalence or avoidance towards the mother.
Secure attachment can be developed by being sensitive towards the needs of the infant. Touching and other signs of affection are just as important as milk and dry diapers. Traditional parenting has discouraged carrying an infant for long periods of time because of the misconception that doing so will foster too much dependence and neediness. Recent research has largely debunked this perspective, causing parenting to shift to a more hands-on style. Attachment parenting is currently the trend, with breastfeeding gaining advocacy and support after years of taking a back seat to formula feeding.
Child care experts encourage kissing, hugging and cuddling your infant as much as possible. They claim that showing your child affection will make him more independent later on because he feels secure and protected to explore, try and learn. The first year is the stage when your baby experiences the greatest and most significant developments of his entire life. Informed parenting will make the journey that much more valuable and richer for both you and your child.
Joana Chrystal Ventura-Moises RN is also our expert consultant in plumbing and frameless shower doors. She contributes fresh, informative blogs to other websites as well, including Plumbing Point and the Hubpages.
Tagged with: attachment parenting, child psychology, infant trust issues, parenting
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