“Sent straight from heaven up above
Came an angel for me to love
To hold and rock and kiss goodnight
To wrap my arms around real tight”
A newborn is a bundle of joy and surprises. The union of single celled sperm and ovum, creating a life is truly amazing. Equally mind-blowing is the maturational process –a biological unfolding of an individual according to a plan contained in its genes.
The term “infant” is derived form Latin means “unable to talk” .Medically a neonate or new-born is only hours, days or a month old. This period is a time of extensive and ongoing system of transition from uterine environment to the external world. It is obvious that the development does not stop with birth, in fact many systems cardiovascular system, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system and all undergo significant changes. Some changes especially neural changes are incomplete.
Neonatology has developed in the past decade bringing together the knowledge and experience of medical professionals, health professionals, psychologists and mothers to improve the quality of physical and psychological care of the infant.
Various Theories of Development:
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory proposes sensorimotor stage: a period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviours are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.
Attachment theory
Attachment behaviour in adults towards the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child’s needs. Such behaviour appears universal across cultures. Attachment theory provides an explanation of how the parent-child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development proposed that attachment can be understood within an evolutionary context in that the caregiver provides safety and security for the infant.
Psychologists have proposed two main theories that are believed to be important in forming attachments.
The Learning / Behaviourist Theory of Attachment (e.g. Dollard & miller, 1950) suggest that attachment is a set of learned behaviours. The basis for the learning of attachments is the provision of food. An infant will initially form an attachment to whoever feeds it.
They learn to associate the feeder (usually the mother) with the comfort of being fed and through the process of classical conditioning, come to find contact with the mother comforting. They also find that certain behaviours (e.g. crying, smiling) bring desirable responses from others (e.g. attention, comfort), and through the process of operant conditioning learn to repeat these behaviours in order to get the things they want.
The Evolutionary Theory of attachment Bowlby, suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive. The infant produces innate ‘social releaser’ behaviours such as crying and smiling that stimulate innate caregiving responses from adults. The determinant of attachment is not food, but care and responsiveness.
Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only one primary attachment (monotropy) and that the attachment figure acted as a secure base for exploring the world. The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have severe consequences. This theory also suggests that there is a critical period for developing an attachment (about 0 -5 years). If an attachment has not developed during this period, then the child will suffer from irreversible developmental consequences, such as reduced intelligence and increased aggression.
Newborn's sense of touch may be as acute as his ability to taste and smell. Touch -- mostly MOTHER’S -- stimulates everything from deeper breathing to immune development to emotional well-being. Studies have shown that under conditions of extreme neglect, new-borns that are hardly held or cuddled experience emotional and developmental problems. By contrast, extra Touch can have remarkable results: lots of physical contact gives babies a developmental boost (reminds of the oil massage suggested for little ones). Touch, it turns out, doesn't just stimulate a physiological reaction. It's a form of communication. And how you handle your baby makes a difference. While hesitant touch conveys uncertainty, fear and unease, firm consistent contact signals safety, protection, and love, says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
Research shows that when a parent responds quickly to comfort a crying infant, the baby cries less often overall. Picking up the baby while crying conveys the message to the child that he/she is safe and the parent is caring. Longitudinal research has shown that having a ‘loving’ primary caregiver and developing ‘organized and secure’ attachment to a primary caregiver acts as a protective factor against social and emotional maladjustment for infants and children. Attachment insecurity (avoidant and resistant) has been proven to be a risk factor for later development, but its high base rate in the normal population (approximately 40%) has reduced its predictive value for psychopathology.
Came an angel for me to love
To hold and rock and kiss goodnight
To wrap my arms around real tight”
A newborn is a bundle of joy and surprises. The union of single celled sperm and ovum, creating a life is truly amazing. Equally mind-blowing is the maturational process –a biological unfolding of an individual according to a plan contained in its genes.
The term “infant” is derived form Latin means “unable to talk” .Medically a neonate or new-born is only hours, days or a month old. This period is a time of extensive and ongoing system of transition from uterine environment to the external world. It is obvious that the development does not stop with birth, in fact many systems cardiovascular system, respiratory system, gastrointestinal system and all undergo significant changes. Some changes especially neural changes are incomplete.
Neonatology has developed in the past decade bringing together the knowledge and experience of medical professionals, health professionals, psychologists and mothers to improve the quality of physical and psychological care of the infant.
Various Theories of Development:
Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory proposes sensorimotor stage: a period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviours are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.
Attachment theory
Attachment behaviour in adults towards the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child’s needs. Such behaviour appears universal across cultures. Attachment theory provides an explanation of how the parent-child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development proposed that attachment can be understood within an evolutionary context in that the caregiver provides safety and security for the infant.
Psychologists have proposed two main theories that are believed to be important in forming attachments.
The Learning / Behaviourist Theory of Attachment (e.g. Dollard & miller, 1950) suggest that attachment is a set of learned behaviours. The basis for the learning of attachments is the provision of food. An infant will initially form an attachment to whoever feeds it.
They learn to associate the feeder (usually the mother) with the comfort of being fed and through the process of classical conditioning, come to find contact with the mother comforting. They also find that certain behaviours (e.g. crying, smiling) bring desirable responses from others (e.g. attention, comfort), and through the process of operant conditioning learn to repeat these behaviours in order to get the things they want.
The Evolutionary Theory of attachment Bowlby, suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive. The infant produces innate ‘social releaser’ behaviours such as crying and smiling that stimulate innate caregiving responses from adults. The determinant of attachment is not food, but care and responsiveness.
Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only one primary attachment (monotropy) and that the attachment figure acted as a secure base for exploring the world. The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have severe consequences. This theory also suggests that there is a critical period for developing an attachment (about 0 -5 years). If an attachment has not developed during this period, then the child will suffer from irreversible developmental consequences, such as reduced intelligence and increased aggression.
Newborn's sense of touch may be as acute as his ability to taste and smell. Touch -- mostly MOTHER’S -- stimulates everything from deeper breathing to immune development to emotional well-being. Studies have shown that under conditions of extreme neglect, new-borns that are hardly held or cuddled experience emotional and developmental problems. By contrast, extra Touch can have remarkable results: lots of physical contact gives babies a developmental boost (reminds of the oil massage suggested for little ones). Touch, it turns out, doesn't just stimulate a physiological reaction. It's a form of communication. And how you handle your baby makes a difference. While hesitant touch conveys uncertainty, fear and unease, firm consistent contact signals safety, protection, and love, says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institutes at the University of Miami School of Medicine.
Research shows that when a parent responds quickly to comfort a crying infant, the baby cries less often overall. Picking up the baby while crying conveys the message to the child that he/she is safe and the parent is caring. Longitudinal research has shown that having a ‘loving’ primary caregiver and developing ‘organized and secure’ attachment to a primary caregiver acts as a protective factor against social and emotional maladjustment for infants and children. Attachment insecurity (avoidant and resistant) has been proven to be a risk factor for later development, but its high base rate in the normal population (approximately 40%) has reduced its predictive value for psychopathology.
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