Infant Psychology

Spirit Babies. Reviews the book, Spirit Babies: How to Communicate with the Child You're Meant to Have by Walter Makichen (2005). When do babies become conscious? Is it at conception, at some time in the mother's womb, when they take their first breath? Ancient wisdom from various peoples around the world offers differing answers. The author of this book states that it all starts before conception. And, he says, there is not a one-directional conversation. There is a contract, made by all participants, although sometimes broken. What sets this book apart from many on soul, spirit, out-of-body experiences, near death tales and the like, is that it will likely be understood and acceptable to both those who are devoutly religious and to agnostics. It offers additional insights for those who already believe that human beings come into a body having made a plan for this lifetime. Makichen's perspective is indeed convincing, illustrated with numerous stories of the author's work with clients who have come to him over the years for a variety of reasons. The topics Makichen covers include ones that many pregnancy and birth books leave out – prematurity, miscarriage, abortion and stillbirth – and he seems particularly wise on these subjects yet offers no platitudes nor cookbook remedies. Makichen does offer a wide array of simple yet profound processes for parents-to-be that he calls "meditations." Each of these processes is a combination of inward focusing and quieting down, with visualization and prayer or chants of different kinds, which places the woman or man in a state of calm readiness. He reminds the reader that each prospective parent has a natural connection with their spirit baby. What he offers just enhances that connection, helping the baby to be born healthy.[1]

Emotional architecture of the mind. In recent years, through our research and that of others, we have found unexpected common origins for the mind's highest capacities: intelligence, morality, and sense of self. We have charted critical stages in the mind's early growth, most of which occur even before our first thoughts are registered. At each stage certain critical experiences are necessary. Contrary to traditional notions, however, these experiences are not intellectual, but rather, subtle emotional exchanges. In fact emotional rather than intellectual interaction serves as the mind's primary architect. Our research points towards a new understanding of how the mind develops in the earliest stages of life, one that integrates the child's experience of emotional interactions with the growth of intellectual capacities and, indeed, the very sense of self.[2]

Boot camps for babies. The essence of the advice books is that they treat the baby as an enemy. It is a hostile invader. The mother must arm herself against her baby in order to train it effectively. They inculcate highly anxious parenting. To rock, cuddle a baby to sleep, or slip in an extra feed when no one is looking, makes a woman feel very guilty. If she does not obey the rules to the letter she is failing as a mother. Failure to interact with a baby in an intimate, loving way and offer generous pleasant sensory experiences, such as comforting touch, may have long-term consequences in the development of personality and the ability to form social bonds. There is evidence that the vasopressin and oxytocin neuropeptide systems, important for the establishment of social bonds and the regulation of emotional behavior, are profoundly affected by early social experience. The evidence from history, and from cultures all over the world, is that, by and large, ordinary, spontaneous, loving mothers who are alert to their babies' needs, and who are supported by other women, do better than all the experts put together. Our babies are not our enemies. You don't need an MBA in baby management to be a good mother.[3]

How much do babies see? The visual apparatus in humans is used from birth as an important part of the infant's interaction with the environment. It is a developing sensory modality that at birth is ready to function without prior experience. Eliciting visual behavior in the neonate appears to be positive evidence of central nervous system function. It is difficult to study visual perception in human infants. Direct methods do not work-one cannot ask a neonate what he/she sees since they do not talk. They do, however, initiate limited motor actions and behaviorally and physiologically react to visual stimuli. Indirect assessment methods, such as recording visually evoked potentials (VEP), can become extremely complicated with the data often difficult to interpret. The goal of most of the published literature on infant visual behavior has been to determine infant visual competence as a function of age and/or to describe precisely the corresponding visual behaviors. Gestalt psychology has demonstrated that the individual parts of objects, visual features such as oriented line segments, or incomplete parts of objects, can be organized into coherent wholes. New theories by researchers are moving in a direction that are inspired by and consistent with the tenets of ecological psychology.[4]

Baboons, brains, babies and bonding. On the basis of the extant literature, and inspired by theoretical considerations, we believe that unconscious mimicry serves two important purposes. First, it is an indispensable tool for binding individuals to their social group. Second, and related to that, mimicry may provide a very effective way for the transmission of cultural ways and habits and for the continuous adaptation of individuals to changing social conditions.[5]

The role of familiar names in speech recognition. How do infants find the words in the tangle of speech that confronts them? The present study shows that by as early as 6 months of age, infants can already exploit highly familiar words--including, but not limited to, their own names--to segment and recognize adjoining, previously unfamiliar words from fluent speech. The head-turn preference procedure was used to familiarize babies with short passages in which a novel word was preceded by a familiar or a novel name. At test, babies recognized the word that followed the familiar name, but not the word that followed the novel name. This is the youngest age at which infants have been shown capable of segmenting fluent speech. Young infants have a powerful aid available to them for cracking the speech code. Their emerging familiarity with particular words, such as their own and other people's names, can provide initial anchors in the speech stream.[6]

Intimate contact with your baby. Reviews the book The Vital Touch: How Intimate Contact With Your Baby Leads to Happier, Healthier Development by Sharon Heller (1997). This book is the best, most comprehensive guide to good, early parenting on the market today. This book synthesizes all of the current research on attachment parenting issues, such as baby-wearing, breastfeeding and the family bed. These issues and the corresponding research are vitally important to our babies, who aren't allowed a second chance at childhood. The first third of the book heralds "the power of touch" as "the first connection" and "the rock of love." Touch, or lack of it, profoundly affects birthing practices, newborn stability, the quality of mother-infant attachment, and how much developmentally important sensory stimulation our babies receive. Part two discusses the cultural habits that put us out of touch with our infants: all the containers in which we nest our babies; our prudish sense of our body, which leads to a withholding of affection, unsuccessful nursing, and a distortion of normal sexual development; our lack of support for the nursing mother; and our taboos against co-sleeping. Part three discusses how modern parents can compromise, between nature's call for closeness to their babies and our culture's "plea for distance."[7]

Mothers, Babies and their body language. This book describes, through an eighteen-month research and observational study from pregnancy to the earliest months of life, the complex interactions between mother and baby. Learning to interpret babies' language is a useful basis for getting in touch with his or her needs. This capacity to understand the baby's sign language and needs enhances our communication skills and attunement in other relationships. This book is intended for parents to read through while thinking back to their experience. It is a guide for discovering the space of their body self image, a space to sense, to feel, and to think about, in order to be able to have their needs met. I believe that it is only by acknowledging their own needs that parents can meet the baby's needs and become attuned to her or him.[8]

Mothers’ emotional investment in their babies. In sufficiently mature women, pregnancy and the birth of a baby bring about an adaptive transient increased flexibility in otherwise stable psychic structures, with, specifically, an increased flexibility in ego functions engendered by the anticipatory need to be ready to accommodate to the coming infant, an organism only vaguely known prior to its birth. Once born, the increasingly experienced infant compels accommodations in the mother to which many a mother is surprisingly fluidly responsive. The infant too accommodates to the exigencies imposed by the mother's reality-based needs, expectations, and wishes. The reciprocity and the accommodations both parties make to this childcaring/mothering process require of both much give and take and evolving compromise.[9]

A century of denial in medicine. During the 20th century when medicine rose to dominate childbirth in the United States, it brought with it a denial of infant pain based on ancient prejudices and scientific dogmas no longer supportable. The painful collision of babies with doctors is seen in neonatal intensive care, infant surgery without anesthesia, painful obstetric routines, and genital mutilation of newborn males. This presentation includes a historical review of experiments on infant reactions to pain, the persistence of medical practices causing pain, and speculation about the reasons for professional indifference.[10]

Infant rearing practices in Egypt. Discusses the choice of close contact and low contact child rearing styles among Egyptian mothers, and considers the effects of mothering style on infant personality and behavior. Uneducated mothers living in extended families and educated mothers living in nuclear families in the same village were observed. While uneducated mothers chose the close contact style, educated mothers chose the low contact style. It is suggested that close contact style is selected by mothers who desire an obedient child with strong family attachments, while a low contact style is selected by mothers who desire a more independent, achievement oriented child.[11]