Attachment Theory: Mother-Infant Relationship

 

The mother-infant relationship is the physical, psychological, and emotional bond, tie, or inseparable oneness which exists between mother and her infant, influencing the infant's development, attachment, and future relationships. With the understanding of the Attachment Theory and its lofty principles as propounded by the British psychiatrist John Bowlby in the 1950s, and later expanded by the Canadian-American psychologist Mary Ainsworth, parents, guardians, and caregivers, can foster a secure and loving relationships with their infants, thereby laying strong foundations for healthy development and future relationships. Before proceeding, it is imperative to identify the key principles of the Attachment Theory: 

a. All infants need parents and caregivers to survive, and the attachment ensures that their needs are met by their parents or caregivers. 

b. The attachment styles which the infants develop differ from infant to infant because though they are infants, they are not the same. Infants develop attachment styles based on their interactions with parents and caregivers, and this attachment styles influence their future overall relationships. 

c. As long as the parents and caregivers are giving quick responsive actions to the needs of the infants, the attachment stands to be firm and highly secured. One important aspect of the Attachment Theory is that infants depend wholly on their parents and caregivers for feeding, accommodation, shelter, clothing, protection, learning, and sustenance for developments. From the shelter and comfort their parents and caregivers give them, they launch out to explore the world, and then return home again to fall back to their parents and caregivers. This phenomenon becomes a daily practice because it is impossible for them to be separated from their parents and caregivers. Once they fail to see the parents or caregivers around them, they become exceedingly uncomfortable because they are too sure that without them their lives may abruptly come to miserable end. 

The factors influencing mother-infant relationships are as follows:

a. Parents' and caregivers' swift responsiveness to meet infants' needs

b. Parents' and caregivers' mental health can have effect on their abilities to provide sensitive cares to the infants.

c. The infant's personal behaviour can make or mar the relationship between mother and infant. For example, if the infant is habitual to temper tantrums and excessive talking back to parents, elders, and authority, these inherent bad habits will undoubtedly strain the relationships between the infants and their parents and caregivers. 

There are two major kinds of attachment between mothers and infants. The first one is called secure attachment, while the second one is called insecure attachment. As their respective names imply, the characteristics of secure attachment is that it is associated with better emotional regulations, social skills, high academic performance, problem-solving skills, empathy, and other innumerable good qualities. In contrast to that, the insecure attachment is simply the antonymn of the secure attachment: increased risks of behavioral problems, mood swings, emotional challenges, mental health issues, and family conflicts, and a litany of others. What should we do to promote healthy relationships between mothers and infants? 

a. Parents and caregivers should always endeavour to respond promptly to meet infants needs.

b. Skin-to-skin contact between mothers and infants should be encouraged if there is going to be healthy attachment between mothers and infants. Physical touch and closeness promote attachment. Every infant enjoys the warmth he/ she derives from the mother's body. When your baby finds himself/ herself tied with wrapper to your back, the baby feels so happy and comfortable as well. The child may not talk to the mother to show her appreciation and thankfulness. But, that does not mean that he/ she does not know what the mother is doing for him/ her. Those mothers who find it difficult to have regular skin contact with their babies are not doing well at all. Each time they tie their babies to their bodies, they do it the wrong ways. They tie their babies like animals! The babies are not comfortably tied. Instead of their babies to be tied at the back and then face the same direction with their mothers, they are tied at front to face opposite direction to their mothers like the colobus monkeys in the rainforests of Central Africa! In some cases, the babies fall down from where they are recklessly hanging on their mothers' bodies unrelaxed and uncomfortable.

c. Parents and caregivers should acknowledge and validate infant's emotions.

d. Establishing predictable routines facilitates the infant's feeling of security or safety.

Global discussions on supporting mothers and newborn babies have given rise to the advent of some best practices from around the world. The Scottish Baby Box Programme and the Finland Family Leave Initiative are cases in point. The Scotland's Baby Box Programme provides essential items to all newborns, while the Finnish Family Leave Initiative policies empower parents to participate in caregiving responsibilities. The Scottish Government introduced a free Baby Box Scheme for all new parents in 2017, modelled on the Finnish scheme to give every child an equal start in life. The Scotland's Baby Box Scheme (SBBS) is a national programme offering a box of essential items to all pregnant women in Scotland expecting to give birth. The scheme promotes and supports good child and maternal health. 

Other ones include the World Health Organization (WHO) which provides guidance and support for countries to improve maternal, newborn child, and adolescent health, including promoting kangaroo mother care and breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contacts in fostering a strong bond between mothers and infants. The Save the Child organization works to promote maternal and child health, including supporting breastfeeding, immunization, and early childhood education programmes. The United Nations Population Fund works assiduously to improve maternal health, including promoting access to family planning, antenatal care and skilled birth attendance. The UNICEF also works to improve maternal and child health, including promoting breastfeeding, immunization, and early childhood education. All these international agencies recognize the critical role of mother-infant relationship in shaping the future wellbeing and development of children. Therefore, mother-infant relationship, as enshrined in John Bowlby's Attachment Theory, is fundamental to child's development because it is the beginning of the overall relationships between the child and the society. If the mother-infant relationship fails, that infant would hardly have cordial relationships with people in the society. Neither can he/ she have a happy life.

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