Constructive Reply MIN 300 words with empirical sources and in text citations.

 

Some people believe that it is extremely important for human babies to have intimate contact with their mothers during the first few hours after birth (rather than being hurried off to a nursery). How could you use a scientific approach to determine whether there is a critical period for the formation of an adult-infant bond?

It is a well-known fact that many short- and long-term adverse effects can arise in prematurely born infants from pre- and postnatal factors, such as maternal and fetal health, NICU ecology, and interruption of intrauterine development (Welch et al, 2015). Because of these factors, studies have shown just how crucial it is for mothers to have physical contact with their newborns as early as possible, and as often as possible, in order to reduce the severity of the neurodevelopment disorders their premature infant could possibly face as a child and adult. For infant developmental reasons, it is important for mothers or fathers/caretakers to have as much physical contact with their newborns as possible; such as skin-to-skin care, infant touch, and even breast feeding, regardless of if the newborn was born premature or not. It can oftentimes be even more important for a mother or father to have constant contact with his or her premature child, because these infants face an even higher risk of developing numerous types of physical or cognitive disorders (Welch et al, 2015).

Studies have shown that certain family nurture-based intervention programs that focus on mother-infant connectedness caused immense improvement in the preterm infant’s health. Researchers assessed premature infants after 18 months who received nurture-based intervention compared to premature infants who did not receive nurture-based intervention, and the researchers found a vast disparity of developmental differences between the two groups. The positive effect from family nurture intervention on an 18 month old’s behavioral problems, social-relatedness, and cognitive language performance suggests that the importance of the physical nurturing of a parent can most certainly aid in the protection against an immense range of potential development delays and disorders in a child who was born prematurely (Welch et al, 2015). Whether the infant is born premature or not, forming an adult-infant bond during the first few hours and even days after birth is a crucial time for the infant's development. 

Welch, M., Firestein, M., Austin, J., Hane, A., Stark, R., Hofer, M., Garland, M., Glickstein, S., Brunelli, S., Ludwig, R., Myers, M. (2015). Family nurture intervention in the neonatal intensive care unit improves social-relatedness, attention, and neurodevelopment of preterm infants at 18 months in a randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 56(11), 1202-1211, Doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12405