Over the course of the semester we have covered a variety of interesting topics involving the psychology development of children. An area that was particularly intriguing to me was the prenatal development and birth. As a nursing major with an interest in neonatal intensive care the subject of preterm babies was an area I wanted to explore more. Preterm babies are slower to initiate social interactions and as a result form less secure emotional ties. They can be fussier and are at greater risk for developmental delays and child abuse. Research has shown that interventions that foster positive emotional attachments improve caregiving but also increases the babies neurological and cognitive development. We will look at the effects of …show more content…
This study supports the idea that parents have to be part of their infant’s caregiving even in the NICU environment starting soon after their birth. The Family Nurture Intervention maintained no more than six hours a week of direct interaction which leads researchers to believe that it is quality of the interaction not necessarily the amount of interaction that matters. The focus on mother–infant connectedness within the NICU environment could raise the standard care for preterm babies.
Shaffer and Kipp (2014) explained the importance of parent-infant attachment and the long-term emotional and cognitive benefits for children that have developed secure attachments. Based on the idea of attachment we will look at the effectiveness of Kangaroo Care in the neonatal care unit. Kangaroo care is when the newborn is placed skin-to-skin on mom or dad’s bare chest. In one study kangaroo care was provided in thirty minute sessions, three times a week for ten weeks. The results showed that infants had a lower respiration rate, increased attachment and reduced stress for both parent and infant (Cho et al., 2017). The organization Hand to Hand goes as far to say that “even in the stressful environment of the NICU, parent and child can quietly bond and get to know one
Infants and parents are biologically tuned to become attached to each other and this attachment promotes the baby's survival. In the United States, Kangaroo cares a method of skin to skin, contact in which a newborn has lied face down between the mother's breast for an hour or so at a time after birth. In Africa, the baby is raised in a caring family atmosphere where there is an extended family to take care of the babies. The mother caries baby on her back while working and spends time taking and playing with the baby. In Mongolia, the mother gets very less time to spend with the baby as she has to run errands and most of the times she has to work away from the baby. The social interaction is only during a family get-together for the baby. In America and Japan, the babies are taken to the park, shopping malls and the music classes for them to be social also the grandparents visit them often. The babies living in the countryside and tribe have less strange anxiety than children in the city like Tokyo and San Francisco. Secure attachment is when faced with a stressful situation and the caregiver effectively comforts the
Mothers and newborns have a physiologic need to be together during the first moment of birth. Interrupted skin-to-skin attachment between mothers and babies can be harmful and can negatively impact short and long term health outcomes and breastfeeding success. Evidence supports instant skin-to-skin care after the birth, vaginally and C-section, during and after cesarean surgery for all stable mothers and newborns will enhance limitless opportunities for care and breastfeeding. Skin-to-skin contact after delivery is golden opportunity. Many studies validate that mothers and babies should be skin-to-skin promptly after birth. Not only promotes healthier baby and successful breastfeeding outcome, it is also
The first hour of life for an infant doing skin to skin contact with their mother provides warmth, protection, and nutrition. The closeness of being on the mother’s chest provides a continuation of hearing the mother’s heartbeat and voice. This is the one place an infant feels most content knowing all their needs are met.
Special care and attention must be given to infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) because of their small size and the health complications they face. One particular challenge faced by health care professionals in the NICU is the management of pain for preterm babies. Preterm infants must undergo a wide range of tests, procedures, and, often, life-saving measures during their hospitalizations, which not only subjects them to pain, but pain-related stress and anxiety. This has an impact on the infants themselves, as well as on the family members and friends who are involved in their care (Smith, Steelfisher, Salhi, & Shen, 2012). The purpose of this paper is to examine the problem of pain management among preterm NICU patients and propose the implementation of kangaroo care as a pain management technique.
Group members are struggling with the many facets of having a NICU baby. This session will deal with some of the very common issues. Parents of NICU babies are often worried about how slowly their child may be progressing in comparison to other babies. This session the group will work through some of those progressions and regressions and help the parents to cope with this. Parents are sitting in the NICU for hours, watching other babies do things that their baby is not doing. However, this session will help show the parents that they are all doing this. Every parent in the group has likely been the parent on either end of that frustration/joy. Regression can be hard for parents and does happen often during a NICU stay. Group members may show some reluctant to talk about their child’s set-backs. They may be discouraged by them. Parents have a strong desire to know when their child will be discharged from the hospital. This can cause them to become upset when that does not happen (Pepler et. Al, 2012).
Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)
Although secure attachment during infancy is the foundation for continued healthy positive development during the lifespan, it is important to understand that other factors can have a significant effect on development later in life (i.e. illness, loss, and trauma). However, research has shown the importance of consistent care giving that is responsive and nurturing and the caregivers’ ability to effectively accommodate more difficult temperament characteristics ,as well as other factors, influence the development of healthy attachment{{64 Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian 2003}}. Research has also shown that infancy and early childhood is the period of development where scaffolding begins and continues (Vygotsky, 1978; Zhao & Orey,1999).
Moreover, infants are preverbal, which makes assessment and intervention especially challenging. Nonetheless, healthcare professionals must look out for warning signs. Some red flags may be raised as early as the baby’s birth. For example, poor mother-infant bonding from birth has been identified as a high risk for possible abuse later on and “may be caused by the delivery of a preterm infant, multiple infants, or one with a disability who has a prolonged stay in the hospital” (Lyden, 2011, p. 2).
Davis, Edwards & Mohay (2003) used Barnard’s assessment scales in their study of interaction between mothers and their preterm infants following discharge. The study assessed mother-newborn dyads in the hospital and re-evaluated the pairs 3 months post discharge. The study demonstrated the importance of maternal coping strategies in developing mother-infant relationships with preterm newborns (Davis, Edwards, & Mohay, 2003).
It has been shown that the relationships infants develop early on in life have lasting effects on their identity and behavior. Extensive research has indicated that the relationship between an infant and its caregivers is particularly important.
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
Abstract This paper is about the bonding between a mother and her newborn infant. There are differing opinions as to whether this bonding is crucial for the healthy development of the child. Those opinions range from yes, the bonding is needed for the mother and infant, to it does not negatively impact the infant to not have this bonding immediately after childbirth.
By responding with care and comfort, this enables for an “attachment bond” to form between the infant and caregiver, most commonly the mother (White et al., 2013). Following on from Bowlby’s theory, Mary Ainsworth investigated the theory of attachment through observing the reactions of infants when their mothers left them alone with strangers. The investigation was named as the “Ainsworth’s strange situation assessment” (White et al., 2013). It was discovered through this investigation that infants who had secure attachments with their mothers were upset when separated and were easily soothed when the mother returns. This investigation implies that infants with secure attachment to their mothers show signs of normal social development.
If the individual’s needs are not met in this stage the individual will most likely develop a mistrust that will hamper relationship in the future. The relationship between parent and caregiver is vital. “It is during the first months of life that the baby comes to trust or not, to have faith or not. Whether trust and faith are developed has direct implications for identity formation” (Goodwin, 1998) The goal of this stage is to gain ‘Hope’.
“As infants grows older, they form close and enduring emotional attachments with the important people in their lives”. Reference 1. This essay will discuss the developmental period of infancy. Infancy is categorised as the development stage of a human from birth to 2 years of age. Infancy is a time in the human life that involves rapid growth and extraordinary changes in the first two years of life. Infants not only grow dramatically physically, their brains develop, and there is the start of locomotor skill development as well as the start of reflexes and sensory growth. The essay will also discuss anxiety and the role it plays with infants in regards to physical, cognitive and psychosocial stages an infant experiences. This essay will argue that the attachment of an infant to its mother is highly important. It will discuss the different way in which attachment affects an infant. This essay will discuss typical development milsetones in the first year years of human life. It will then go to analysis the relationship between infants being in day care or at home with their mother. T The typical physical development of a babys starts at borth. When a Baby is born on average it will weigh 3.4 kilograms and measure to be around 51 centimeters. A baby is typically 25 percent of its final adult weight when it is born but by its