The First Two Years
• Neurological development
Babies grow and change so much in the first two years of life, and many of those growth are directly related to the brain. Brain grows so rapidly than any other organ and reaches 75% by the age of 2. Communication within the central nervous system and spinal cord begins with neurons. The final part of the brain prefrontal cortex matures.
• Physical development
Babies grow very fast with rapid weight gain. Birthweight typically doubles by 4 month and triples in a year. Babies will grow more than a foot in height and reaches about 34 inches by the age of 2. This is half of the height of their adult age height.
• Cognitive development
Babies are not only growing physically but also cognitively.
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(Jane Klingberg, pp slides)
Infant emotions
• Fear: Emerges at about 9 months in response to people, things, or situations.
• Stranger wariness: Infant no longer smiles at any friendly face but cries or looks frightened when an unfamiliar person moves too close.
• Separation anxiety:
1. Tears, dismay, or anger when a familiar caregiver leaves.
2. If it remains strong after age 3, it may be considered an emotional disorder.
Toddlers’ emotions
• Anger and fear become less frequent and more focused.
• Laughing and crying become louder and more discriminating.
• Temper tantrums may appear.
• Other unique events
Development of social bonds
Attachment
• A child wants to be liked and is bonding with their caregivers. This bonding is called “attachment.
• Attachment is a lasting emotional bond that one person has with another.
• Begins to form in early infancy and influences a person's close relationships throughout life.
Types of attachment
• Insecure-avoidant attachment (A)
An infant avoids connection with the caregiver, as when the infant seems not to care about the caregiver's presence, departure, or return.
• Secure attachment (B)
An infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver.
• Insecure-resistant/ambivalent attachment (C)
An infant's anxiety and uncertainty are evident, as when the infant becomes very upset at separation from the caregiver and both
When the baby is about 3-6 months old they are able to recognise similar faces this could be of family such as parents, uncles, aunts, siblings or hospital staff for example doctor, nurse or midwife. They are also starting to develop wariness of strangers and parents for example in this situation they might start to cry whilst being picked up by their mums friend where as when they’re picked up by their mum they are absolutely fine it shows how attached the baby can be to their mother there is no one more important to them except their mummy and daddy. The face of the child will brighten up when a familiar carer turns up.
During this stage, infants feel uncertain about the world they live in and resolve this uncertainty by looking to their primary caregiver for stability. If the caregiver is consistent, reliable, and predictable, the infant will develop a sense of trust that will assist them in feeling secure throughout various relationships. If the caregiver is harsh, unpredictable, and inconsistent, the infant will develop a sense of mistrust, which leads to a lack of confidence in the world around them.
A relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of his or her caregiver.
The relationship a parent and a child have is fragile and is important as a parent or primary caregiver to show some form of emotional availability which refers to the individual’s capacity to be emotionally responsive to the
From the start of childbirth, children depend on their parent(s) or caregiver(s) to take care of their needs in life (Rodrigue & Reeves, 2015). Four types of attachment to focus on are: secure attachment, insecure-resistant attachment, insecure-avoidant attachment, and insecure-disorganized attachment. Secure attachment refers to when the parent(s) or caregiver(s) are present in the child’s life. Children feel comfortable about being independent to an extent and will interact with new and familiar things on their own in the presence of their caregiver. Separation may cause distress, due to the dependence and attachment to the caregiver. Insecure-avoidant the child does not rely on the care giver for safety and will be precociously independent. They also do relatively well with the caregiver being non present and opened to interacting with strangers. Insecure-resistant attachment the caregiver has the child more focused on their presence and will avoid new experiences even if the caregiver is present. If separation occurs, they become distress and do not cope well even after their return. Finally, insecure-disorganized attachment children show more disoriented or strange behaviors. They will wander with no purpose and show engagement in any activity while being distressed and confused about what they should do or how to interact with or around the
When maternal love is not consistent, infants then begin to develop insecure attachment, for example, when an infant cries or shows distress and the care giver does not respond or only responds in a loud, abrupt way the infant can become more distressed as they pick up on emotions around them. If the care giver does not comfort the infant for example, holding, cradling or showing affection the child becomes frustrated because his or her needs
Early attachment is established in infancy and is primarily based on the acknowledgment and gratification of basic biological needs: the need to eat, the need to drink, the need to be comfortable (not cold, hot, or wet), the need to sleep, and the need to be free from fear. This is exemplified by the infant emitting a cry reflecting a "need state", a signal for help. The caretaker learns to recognize the infant 's different cries to determine the specific need requiring gratification. If needs are consistently satisfied, the infant learns to depend on and trust its caretakers. As the infant becomes assured that its needs will be gratified, it acquires the ability to delay gratification when hearing its caretaker 's voice or seeing the caretakers ' face. The infant understands that help is on the way. This dependency enables an infant to
Mistrust. An infant trusts that their caregiver is going to be there to meet their needs. If a caregiver does not appear the infant will experience conflict of trusting others. Erikson believed that this shaped a person’s interactions for the rest of their life. Benjamin Spock stated in his book Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care that infants learn during early infancy a sense of trust by having their needs met promptly and lovingly. He does go on to say that after six months a baby can wait a bit for a parent’s attention, especially, if the parent is feeling overwhelmed or anxiety due to the fact that the she is feeling enslavement by the baby always needing to be held (2012. pg. 112-113). Mary Ainsworth has four categories of behavior based on maternal care: sensitivity-insensitivity, cooperation-interference, and acceptance-rejection. Ainsworth believed that a mother to form positive attachment should be able to interpret her baby’s signals and respond promptly, understand that the baby is individual, to intervene in the babies activities without inferring, and the mother’s feelings toward her baby (Benson, Haith. 2009. pg. 32). It seems though that Raj took it to one extreme of not answering cries after in the night after six months, while I was at the opposite end of not putting my six month old down. Cheryl is the balance between us because she has the balance that Ainsworth’s theory requires.
Securely attached infants have a good quality of relationship with their parents. In the strange situation, where parents leave their child alone or with a stranger in a room full of toys, these children are upset when their parents leave, but easily comforted when they return. The child uses the parent as a “secure base” from which to explore the environment. In the strange situation, insecure/resistant infants
Infants are a special cohort of a population in the society. Children between the ages of five months to two years are at a stage where they start familiarizing with their surroundings and have different reactions to situations. The surrounding where an infant grows greatly determines his or her development. The primary determinant of the development of infants is the parent-infant interaction (Crain, 2015). The first bond or relation of a child is with its biological parents or guardians in the case of orphaned children.
They do not seek contact with their mother and are indifferent to her comings and goings.(Feldman pg.187) The last type of attachment is the Ambivalent Attachment Pattern. These babies also do not have a secure attachment to their mothers but they exhibit it in a different way. These babies want to be near there mother constantly and rarely explore their environment. When the mother leaves they show great distress and upon her return, they initially hurry to her but then show angry behavior by hitting or kicking the mother.
The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the
Stages of attachment. Another of Bowlby’s contributions is his proposal that the infant’s attachment to caregiver develops in stages attuned to the infant’s cognitive and emotional development. As described by Broderick & Blewitt (2015), a bond emerges from the affect between mother and child in the first two months as the infant signals their needs by clinging, smiling, and crying. During this stage infants are not yet attached to anyone and do not discriminate between caregivers. Between their second and eighth month, infants become increasingly preferential of one caregiver, most often the mother. The primary indicator of the emerging attachment is whether or not the 7-8 month-old infant protests when separated from their caregiver, and whether they greet the caregivers return with happiness. Soon thereafter, the infant should begin to develop additional attachments with their fathers, grandparents, babysitters etc. By 18 months most infants are attached to multiple caregivers (Broderick & Blewitt, 2015, p. 135).
This is due to the fact that I became exceptionally distressed if I was left alone with strangers and was not easily comforted by them, which is characteristic of an insecure attachment. This can be seen in a more obvious manner when my mom responds that I was always by her side even when we would visit family members. Also, since she was often the only one who could comfort me, means that our attachment was not an Insecure/Avoidant one. This type of attachment is when the infant is as easily comforted by a stranger as they are by their caregivers. In addition, seeing that I was not secure enough to explore the environment, like going to play with other kids when we would visit other people’s houses, means that I would not use my mom as a secure base for exploration. Using caregivers as a base for exploration is characteristic of a secure attachment which is why our attachment would not be categorized as a secure attachment. Lastly, considering I would often notice if she left me alone means that I did not display an Insecure / Ambivalent attachment. This type of attachment is illustrated when babies do not notice or are indifferent towards their caregivers before they are left alone which is not something I would
However, if there is a failure for this attachment to form and the mother infant relationship does not grow this can produce a stress response in the infant and prevent them from developing fully. As is widely accepted humans are imparted with a social brain and require input from those around them to grow and develop properly. Neglecting to provide adequate stimulation and provide a “serve and return” interaction with the infant fails to provide the human interaction that is critical for development (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2013). This idea of “serve and return” is essential for the developing brain and involves a two-way interaction between the infant and mother or caregiver.