By Judy Crompton
“It is the human brain from which the human mind arises, and within that mind resides our humanity.”
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There is a great deal in the news of the UK at the moment about infant care. Our Government is gradually coming to understand that the first two years of a baby’s life are the most crucial in its future physical and psychological development, and how important this is for the future of society.
It is currently proposing that maternity leave can be shared, separately, by both the father and the mother if, for instance, the mother wishes to return to work early. For those of us who work to promote the cause of infant attachment, this is wonderful news. Although that view is not entirely shared by employers who are worried about losing key staff, it is a great step forward in understanding.
Having visited Asia many, many times and seen babies carried close to their mothers’ bodies and interacted with constantly, I never thought there would be a need for this information on South Asian Parent. But times change and the lives of professional women are much the same the world over. The same worries and questions exist everywhere…
How can I help my baby to be healthy and happy?
Does it matter if I go out to work?
Is nursery OK for most of the time if I know they feed my child well?
So, what is attachment (or bonding) and why is it important? Well, simply stated, just like commercial glue is used to bond two objects, emotional glue allows us to connect to one another, and in the case of a newly born, it is absolutely vital. In the animal world, only humans give birth to babies at such an early stage of their development. What other infant animal cannot walk for the first year of life?
Human babies have to find someone to attach to within hours of birth or they will not survive. To this effect, they are born with an armoury of ways to make their mother fall in love with them. Their huge pupils and the proportions of the face trigger protection hormones in all adults, and the baby’s newly born cry will trigger oxytocin, the love hormone (and also the hormone that triggers the let-down reflex for breast milk).
But the physical underdevelopment of our babies is only a part of the problem. The human brain is also only partially formed at birth, and how that brain goes on to develop depends, principally, on the quality of the bond or ‘attachment’ that a baby achieves by the age of two with its key carer (usually the mother, but could be a dad, grandmother, nursery worker or even a sibling). By the age of two, the brain and mind are usually laid down.
It is the earliest experiences of the human baby that literally shape his or her brain development, and will have a lifelong impact on the baby’s mental and emotional health. What does this mean?
