A Mother's Role in Pretend Play

 This is the first post of a mult-post Science Friday series that discusses research about toddler pretend play.

   Throughout the past several months, Q-ball has been extremely active in pretend play.  Given that New Baby should arrive any hour or day, she has especially been focused on diapering, wearing, and strollering all of her stuffed animals the past few weeks.  I know that other toddlers begin this same fascination with pretend play at a similar time, so I wanted to look into the possible causes of and factors that contribute to pretend play. In this Science Friday post, I will look at the mother's role in fostering pretend play.  But, first, a definition of pretend play.  Most research in the topic follows the definition established by Catherine Garvey in her study of children's play, which is "play in which actions, objects, persons, places, and other aspects of the here-and-now are transformed or treated non-literally."

Pretending this is a real bear.

     Child development psychologist Jean Piaget believed that pretend play started spontaneously in each individual child, without any outside influence.  Given Piaget's profound influence on the subject of child development, many followed his belief, and it was not until recently that research has been done on the topic.  In contrast to Piaget's view, a growing body of evidence is now examining how interpersonal relationships contribute to a toddler's pretend play, especially that of the caregiver. 
     The study I examined for this post followed nine middle-class, college-educated families, primarily focusing on the mother and toddler for seven visits from ages 12 months to 48 months. The results, then, are biased towards this demographic, but were very clear in their results for this group. This, also, is the demographic of which I am a part, so the study is relevant to me. Still, the researchers state these findings are consistent with other studies done on the topic.  Here are some of the findings:

• In all families, the mother was the first to initiate pretend play with her child at 12 months.  In only half of the cases was the child able to reciprocate any pretend play.  I thought this observation was especially fascinating as I would not have guessed that I had initiated pretend play with Q-ball as I strive to follow her lead. However, upon further reflection, I realize that I often employ techniques found within Playful Parenting and other play-focused books to ease the stress of transitions and can imagine that I once had us crawl to naptime like cats or some similar activity.
• Mothers were also found to prompt pretend play, primarily by asking their child open-ended questions about their pretending.  (i.e.- What is your dog eating? Where is the train going? Why is the doll sad?)
• By 24 months, the toddler is just as likely to initiate pretend play with the mother as he is with her.  No matter who initiates play, both mother and toddler seem to be equally responsive the other when it comes to reciprocating play. In this study, 24 months is deemed the most pivotal role in mother-toddler pretend play.  This observation is a little sad for me, as I'm already past this milestone for my first child!  And, she's still so young!
• For a young toddler, a mother's active role in pretend play lengthens the play and encourages more activity.  At the ages of 24 months and 36 months, the length of pretend play when the mother is involved is nearly twice as long as episodes of solo pretend play.  Additionally, children were much more vocal when the mother was involved, in most cases parroting the mother's comments. 
• However, by 48 months, children tend to be involved in pretend play for twice as long when they play alone than when they play with their mother. 
• Between 36 and 48 months, children begin to seek out similarly aged playmates with which to pretend, leading to the decline in mother-toddler pretend play.

Does your toddler like pretend play?  Do you find this findings to be true in your household?  

Source:
Haight, W. and Miller, P.J. (1992). The development of everyday pretend play: A longitudinal study of mothers' participation. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 38(3). 331-349.

A Mother's Influence on Her Child's Diet

      Part One of this Science Friday series discussed a variety of ways that parents can influence their children's food choices. I know that I saw at least one finding discussed in Part one's post at our home this week- namely, a child's ability to control their own food intake. For Q-ball's birthday, we gave her sweet yogurt the day before her birthday, and she devoured it!  On her actual birthday, we presented her with her first cake and ice cream and expected the same results, but she barely touched anything!  I guess she knew she had had enough the night before!

And, that's about all the cake and ice cream she ate!

    This post is going to specifically explore a mother's role in her child's eating habits. As one of the studies I read explained, "Mothers are often one of the most influential people in a young child’s life."  It makes sense, then, that the mother is often the one to have the most influence on a child's food choices. Obviously, I'm a mama, so I found this a really interesting topic to research especially as I am working to instill healthy eating habits in Q-ball.

     Many of the studies I found dealing with parental influences on children's eating habits focused on preschool-age children.  However, I did find one that looked specifically at a mother's actions while she was just introducing solids to her child- from 6 months to 1 year. Even at this young age, at least two studies show, how a mother feeds her baby is related to a baby's weight.  Mothers are much more likely to pressure their "skinny" babies to eat than they are "chubby" babies. This is especially interesting as it is rather common knowledge that fat babies are happy and healthy babies. (Good news for Q-ball! Just the other day a 8- or 9- year old boy at the park came up to us and called her fat!) Mothers who were deemed to be "controlling" during feeding according to researchers were more likely to have babies with slow weight gain.  I thought this finding was so sad- mothers might be jeopardizing their babies' health because of perceived cultural norms!  What is especially interesting about this finding is that researchers theorize that the mothers then see their babies' slowed weight gain as a success.  As such, they continue to restrict the children's feeding in the coming years, and, as we saw in the last post, this will likely eventually lead to overeating by the child!  What a cycle!

     On the other side of the food control spectrum is pushing children to finish their food. The method of directing children to eat was discussed in Part One, but this week, I am going to look at the issue from a slightly different angle.  Many mothers actively encourage their children to finish their plates or to take a couple more bites. But, studies have shown these reminders last beyond dinner time.  In one study, children were given pudding to eat in a laboratory setting on multiple occasions.  When the children's mothers were present (not encouraging them to eat- just present), overweight children (this specific study was comparing normal weight children to overweight children) were much more likely to eat more pudding. Not only did they eat more, they ate faster and took bigger bites!  The researchers concluded that in these cases, the mothers were likely contributors to their children's weight.

      Finally, it is difficult to look through too much research that discusses women and food without coming across information about eating disorders. Unfortunately, little research has been done on any possible effects that a mother's eating disorder may have on how she feeds her child.  But, at least one study does compare how mothers with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), and no eating disorders (No ED) feed their children.  No differences appear in pressuring children to eat across the groups. But, it found that mothers suffering from BN and BED were more likely to restrict their children's food intake.  Additionally, these mothers were much more likely to report that their children had anxiety issues and difficulty eating (although the researchers admit it is difficult to determine the causality of this reporting.)   The study is not a longitudinal study, so it cannot tell us the long-term effects on these children's eating habits. However, it is known that the odds of having an eating disorder are influenced by both genetic and environmental factors, so it can be assumed these children would have an increased risk of eating disorders.
   Another blog I follow, Parenting Science, recently published a post about the effect of a mother's weight gain during pregnancy has on the child's weight as an adult. I won't rehash the post, but it turns out that mothers the under-eat during pregnancy increase their babies odds of being obese later in life.  If you are interested, the whole post is available here.

     It's amazing to see the amount of influence that mother's can have on their children's daily habits! What struck me in these studies is that the mother's actions seem so off-hand or slight that she likely does not give them a second thought.  But, the long-term impacts are pretty profound.  It's certainly made me think about how I feed Q-ball and how I eat in front of her.  I vow to no longer eat peanut directly from the jar.  At least in front of Q-ball...

Sources:
Brown, A. & Lee, M. (2011). Maternal child-feeding style during the weaning period: Association with infant weight and maternal eating style. Eating Behaviors, 12. 108-112.
Munsch, S., Hasenboehler, K., & Meyer, A.H. (2011). Is amount of food intake in overweight and obese children related to their psychopathology and to maternal eating behavior? Journal of Psyhcosomatic Research, 70. 362-367.
Reba-Harrelson, L., Von Holle, A., Hamer, R.M., Torgersen, L., Reichborn-Kjennerud, T. & Bulik, C.M. (2010). Patterns of maternal feeding and child eating associated with eating disorders in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Eating Behaviors, 11. 54-61.

Your Childhood= Your Child's Childhood?

Welcome to February edition of the Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival, hosted by Authentic Parenting and Mudpiemama. This month, participants have looked into the topic of “Fostering Healthy Attachment”. Please scroll down to the end of this post to find a list of links to the entries of the other participants. Enjoy!

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    "The most natural thing we do is raise our children the way we were raised," explain the founds of API in Attached at the Heart: 8 Proven Parenting Principles for Raising Connected and Compassionate Children.  This book and many others that encourage fostering secure attachment with children often discuss the fact that we, as parents, must analyze how we were parented in order to uncover those practices we wish to repeat and those we wish to end.  For this Science Friday post, I explored some of the original studies that led to this advice in order to find out, "How likely are we to have the same attachment relationship with our children as we had/have with our parents?"

(Hopefully!) A securely-attached baby

    First of all, let's look at how these studies were conducted.  Nearly all use the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) as the basis for their research. Developed in the 1980s by Mary Main and her fellow researchers, this interview is a more recent part of the ever-growing field of attachment theory based upon Ainsworth's and Bowlby's original studies on attachment. (For a review- check out this post.)  The AAI asks the interviewee to about his relationship with his parents and for specific memories to support this description.  The interviewee is also asked what about his childhood might have affected his current personality, especially any instances of death, and why his caregivers may have acted they way they did.

     Based upon these interviews, Main and others have uncovered three primary classifications:

1. Secure-autonomous. Those happy with their childhood experiences who open share their stories.
2. Insecure-dismissing. These people act as though their early experiences are not important and do not affect their current way of life.  Their rejection of their memories, however, tends to correspond to a rejection of their infants' need to be close to them.
3. Insecure-pre-occupied. These people are still dealing with issues from their childhood.  They are still trying to win their parents love or approval.  Because they are focused on their own needs, it can be difficult for them to respond to the need of their children.

    After researchers uncovered these classifications, they quickly got to work conducting the Strange Situation with these same interviewees to see if their previous childhood experiences (which some researchers refer to as "representation of attachment") affected their current attachment pattern with their children.  And, the results were a very clear: yes! 

    In the study that I found most interesting (and that I studied during my pregnancy), the AAI was conducted on 100 volunteers over the age of 20 during their last trimester of pregnancy.Volunteers spanned social and racial lines and varied in relationship status to their baby's father. Using these results, the women were classified using one of the above classifications. When their babies were 12 months old, the Strange Situation was conducted.  The correlations between the "maternal representations of attachment" and their baby's attachment pattern were very predictable.  Seventy-five percent of secure-autonomous mothers had securely attached infants, while 73% of dismissing or per-occupied mothers had insecurely attached infants.  Of the 24% of secure-autonomous mothers (14 total mothers in the sample) who had insecurely attached infants, two mothers had experienced the death of a loved one, considered a highly traumatic event, within the infant's first year of life.  It can be assumed that the mothers had not yet been able to handle the emotions associated with these events, giving them feelings similar to those experienced by the insecure-preoccupied classification.

    So, how can you work to be a secure base for your child, no matter your upbringing?  I am certainly not a therapist or psychologist, but I believe that nearly everyone has the ability to foster secure-attachment in their children. First of all, know that you are not alone.  A 2008 study revealed that only 65% of children in the US are considered securely attached.  Given what we now know about the "inter-generational transmission of attachment," this will likely be a difficult statistic to improve.  But, it can be done. Research indicates that is it necessary to acknowledge your early experiences and accept that they have shaped you and will shape how you parent.  If you are really interested and need a place to start, a simple google search will bring up an AAI and even a scoring guide.  Independent reflection through journaling or discussion with your spouse or a friend can also help. Some individuals require the support of therapists or doctors to fully accept and move beyond painful memories in their pasts.  A number of books are available on this topic and can provide more information: Creating the Capacity for Attachment and Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mind, Body, and Brain are two starters.  Additionally, support groups and blogs abound on the topic.

   While it may be natural to raise children how we were raised, if you decide that how you were raised does not support your parenting goals, it is possible to break the cycle of "inter-generational transmission of attachment." 

Sources:

 Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P.R. (Eds.). (2008).  Handbook of attachment, second edition. NY: Guilford Press.

Crain, W. (2011). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. NY: Prentice Hall.

Nicholson, B. & Parker, L. (2009). Attached at the heart: 8 proven parenting principles for raising connected and compassionate children.  Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.

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Visit Authentic Parenting and Mudpiemama to find out how you can participate in the next Authentic Parenting Blog Carnival!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• "Keep Them Close and Let Them Go: Fostering Healthy Attachment As They Grow" — Helen at Zen Mummy wonders how to maintain a healthy attachment as our children become more independent.
• "Honesty (With Your Children) is the Best Policy" — Mandy at Living Peacefully With Children shares how honesty with her children is helping to build an authentic relationship which will last through the teen years and beyond.
• "Fostering Healthy Attachment?" — Momma Jorje discusses how she is building a foundation of attachment with her children and how she hopes it serves them in their lives as they grow into adults.
• Beyond Bookend Parenting — Marisa at Deliberate Parenting describes their efforts to maintain their toddler's attachment to her working parent through play and routines throughout the day.
• Have You "Huggled" Today? — Kerry at City Kids Homeschooling shares how "huggles" work like magic in her home.
• Your Childhood=Your Child's Childhood? — Amy at A Secure Base examines the research about how our attachment experience can shape our attachment with our children.
• List-Making Activities to Celebrate Family Connections — Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares some family list-making activities that will help you reflect on what you love about your family and can spark ideas for future family fun.
• How To Keep in Touch With Distant Grandparents — Lauren at Hobo Mama offers several tips to foster connection with relatives who live far away.
• Beyond Bonding: The Power of Positioning in Babywearing — Steffany, a babywearing educator, guest posting at Natural Parents Network, explains how optimal positioning in quality carriers can help babies' physical growth, brain development, and overall attachment.
• Playing Follow the Leader — Zoie at TouchstoneZ has learned that the more she meets her children where they are rather than where she would like them to be, the greater the elasticity of their bonds are.
• The Evolution of Attachment: Parenting Without a Roadmap — Sheila at A Living Family reflects on her family's recent generation of mothers and shares how she is working to make an evolutionary leap towards forming healthy attachment.
• Facilitating Sibling Connection — Laura at Authentic Parenting gives a set of pointers on how to facilitate sibling bonding.
• The Farm in my Bed — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama discusses fostering children's healthy attachment to "lovies" and comfort objects..
• My Early Morning Shadow Valerie at Momma in Progress shares a few ways she maintains a strong connection with her almost six-year-old daughter.

Pet Week 4: Pets and Human Attachment

Lorenz and his geese.

            If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, hopefully, you have learned a little about the attachment relationship between mother and child.  Bowlby’sand Ainsworth’s now famous studies on maternal attachment have their roots in studies that had previously been completed through animal observations.  In animals, as with humans, the newborn’s instinctual ability to keep close proximity to its mother is a very necessary tool for survival.  While this is typically referred to as attachment in humans, in animals it is known as imprinting.    

            Konard Lorenz’s work with birds, especially ducks and goslings, shaped much of what we know about imprinting today.  He discovered that imprinting must take place during a critical period.  An animal will not be able to attach before this critical period, and, if after this critical period an attachment has not been formed, it will never be able to form an attachment to another being.  Later researchers determined that the critical period ends when the animals starts to exhibit signs of fear. 

            This idea of a critical period of attachment has also been found in human infants.  Bowlby’s work discovered that between birth and three months, babies will interact with anyone.  Between three and six months, they begin to favor individuals with whom they are familiar.  By 6 months, human infants show a clear preference for their primary caregiver, most often the mother, and will likely exhibit separation anxiety and a fear of strangers at 8 or 9 months.  Beyond this, research shows that babies who have started to emotionally attach with their mothers at 3 months are more likely to be securely attached at 12 months and demonstrate less behavior problems at 24 months.  Given these findings, it appears that the critical period of human infant attachment is within the first three months of life.  However, research certainly doesn’t show that this period is as critical as it is in some animals.  That is, babies who do not attach within the first three months of life certainly are not doomed to never attach to a human!

            During Lorenz’s research, he raised orphan goslings.  As he attended to them during their critical period, they actually imprinted on him!  They would follow him in a single line, paying no attention to other geese. 

So, back to the topic of pet week, can our pet dogs and cats attach to humans?  According to at least one study, dogs and their owners experience physical changes as a result of contact with each other.  The study measured levels of oxytocin, cortisol, and insulin in both the dogs and their owners before they were exposed to each other and after exposure after 3, 15, and 30 minute intervals.  These are hormones that measure levels of stress and increase feelings of love and belonging; oxytocin, specifically, is related to maternal attachment in humans as there are increases in oxytocin after childbirth and while breastfeeding.  The researchers discovered after the interaction between human and pet, stress levels and heart rate were reduced.   These are similar to the physical reactions that occur during interactions between a human mother and her infant.  So, it appears that humans may be able to serve as a secure base for their pets! 

Sources:

Crain, W. (2001). Theories of development: Concepts and applications. Prentice Hall: Boston.

Handlin, L.,  Hydbring-Sandberg, E. Nilsson, A., Ejdebäck, M.,  Jansson, A. Uvnäs-Moberg, K. (2011). Short-term interaction between dogs and their owners: Effects on oxytocin, cortisol, insulin and heart rate—An exploratory study. Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animal, 24(3), 301-315.

The Science of Baby-Sign Language

    Increasingly, parents are using sign language to communicate with their infants, allowing them active communication with their pre-speaking babies (researchers refer to them as pre-lexical).  Numerous benefits have been tied to using sign language, including help in building language skills, increased IQ, and increased literacy skills. While these are obviously desirable results, my husband and I were drawn to the idea of signing with Q-ball as a way to increase our bond with her as we are better able to meet her needs through increased communication.  Not to mention the idea that we could have an earlier peak into her thoughts and personality. Super neat!

     At 8 months, Q-ball is now at the tail end of what is considered the optimal age for introducing sign language, according to Baby Sign Language Basics: Early Communication for Hearing Babies and Toddlers by Monta Briant, which we have been using as our guide.  We started using 7 signs (milk, diaper change, cat, book, rattle, mirror, and we later added eat) with her at about 5 months and have tried to practice them on a daily basis (although I must admit to took me awhile to make it a habit, and sometimes signing is the last thing that crosses my mind when trying to change a fussy, squirmy baby's diaper!) So far, we have not noticed her making any signs, but I can tell she is focusing on the signs when we make them, and she appears to get excited at the sign for "milk".

      Briant's book provides some great information as do other baby-signing resources.  But, they tend to focus on the benefits and how-tos, and do not necessarily describe how signing leads to these amazing results, so I did some research.  The study I found focused on "maternal multimodal communication"- basically using multiple methods to communicate with your infant.  Throughout the study, as with sign language, the two methods used are voice and movement or touch. 

     I found the results fascinating and another amazing example of the strong biological attachment between mother and infant (for those of are regular follows of my blog, this shouldn't come as a surprise...)  The researchers, as well as many other findings from previous studies, found that "motherese," defined as the way that mothers (and people in general) often talk to infants which includes increased changes in tone and a slower rate of speech, has evolved to meet the changing needs of infants as they develop.  In other words, mothers unconsciously provide the necessary level of support to allow their babies to learn language. 

      This is where sign language comes in.  The major way to assist infants is to communicate with them using "temporal synchrony" or visual motions and voice simultaneously. Researchers suspect that temporal synchrony serves as a way of grabbing the infant's attention. Additionally, it helps infants find word-object relations. According to the ecological perspective of development, infants use their increased senses to take in the language cues the mother provides. Likewise, according to the dynamic systems theory, the development of language is a symbiotic relationship in which the mother senses the infant's perceptual abilities and matches her style of communication accordingly.  

       The results of the study support both of these theories.  The researchers found that mothers decreased the amount of motion cues as infants aged and gained increased language abilities.  Additionally throughout all age groups studied, mothers used more hand motions with verbs than with nouns (so, within the context of the study, they were more likely to demonstrate a jump than to point to the hand puppet jumped).  This supports the fact that infants vocabularies contain more nouns than verbs.  

      So, how can you be a secure base for your baby as he learns language?  Use sign language!  Or, at the very least use lots of demonstrating actions and pointing to help your little along his path of cognitive development. 

Have you signed with your baby? What did you like most about the experience? Do you have any tips to share?

Sources:

Briant, M. (2004). Baby sign language basics: early communication for hearing babies and toddlers. Hay House: NYC.

Gogate, L., Bahrick,L., & Watson, J. (2000). A study of multimodal motherese: The role of temporal synchrony between verbal labels and gestures. Child Development, 71,(4), 878-894.

Mahler's Separation/Individuation Theory

            When Q-ball started crawling, she did not only reach a significant physical milestone, but also huge emotional and cognitive developments.  She now has the ability to see that she is a separate identity from me, her mama.  Ironically, this ability to move away from me is a significant step towards greater attachment between us.  Margaret Mahler, a psychoanalyst whose own mother kept her at a distance, developed a theory that describes the normal phases of separation for infants and toddlers.  Over a period of seven phases, from birth to 30 months, the baby moves from only acknowledging inner physiological sensations in a half-awake state to the knowledge that he is a separate being from his mother who is about to be able to do his own thing (which can be quite the cause of heartache for the mamas!)  Her theory is known as the separation/individuation theory. 

            According to Mahler, at 6 months, Q-ball “hatched,” becoming her own person who is very aware she is separate from me.  Q-ball’s actions at this stage mirrored many of those observed by Mahler: grapping mama’s glasses, digging her nails into mama’s lips, and pulling mama’s hair.  This is the “separate” part of Mahler’s theory.  She’s also loved taking off crawling and exploring her now accessible world.  This is the “individuation” part of Mahler’s theory.

Today, Q-ball turned 7 months old, and I’ve noticed some other firsts over the past few days. She’s occasionally shy around strangers - turning her head to my chest to avoid them or actually whining when they try to woo her.  Cue the early development of stranger anxiety.  Her reactions are mild, however, compared to some observed by Mahler.  In these more severe cases, the babies had likely not developed basic trust and strong attachments earlier in infancy, often a result of under-responsive parents (i.e.- those who do not respond to baby’s basic needs of food, sleep, and comfort at the baby’s demand.)  These stress reactions, then, serve as one of the first indicators of the importance of being very responsive to baby’s needs from birth. 

As Q-ball continues to crawl and eventually walk around her new world, her curiosity and excitement about the world around her should continue to grow.  During this period of time, Mahler’s research led her to the same conclusions concerning the mother-infant relationship as Ainworth’s research had previously revealed.  That is, the mother should serve as a “secure base” for the infant’s explorations.  The mother should encourage her baby’s new independence by not being overly controlling or disruptive in her baby’s play.  Simultaneously, she must also remain “emotionally [available]”  for the baby- a presence in the background should baby look back for his mother’s approval and encouragement of his actions.  Interestingly, cases in which parents are overly anxious of or involved in a baby’s explorations produce similar emotional disorders and excessive clinginess as parents who are unresponsive to their infant’s wants and needs. 

            So, in order to serve as a secure base for Q-ball, we plan to make nearly all of our next home a “yes” environment for her (the notable exception being Daddy’s man cave.)     In this way, she’ll be able to explore as she pleases with little disruption from me.  I plan to be emotionally available and guide her at times but, largely, allow her to develop her independence.  Maybe I’ll be able to check up on some reading as while I’m lounging on the couch!  (It’ll never happen, I know, but it’s my current daydream…)

How did you serve as a secure base for your baby while he was learning to crawl or walk?  What did you do with all of your new “free time?” 

The Science of Babywearing

            This week is International Babywearing Week , sponsored by Babywearing International.  My husband and I love babywearing.  While I heard all of the wonderful facts about babywearing ( baby cries less; baby is more attached to parents; healthier development for babies, especially premies,) I was initially drawn to it because, frankly, it was easier to carry Q-ball in a carrier than in my arms, especially when shopping or doing chores.   But, I recently read about the science behind some of the benefits of babywearing and learned about benefits that typically aren’t mentioned.  These have made me love babywearing even more!

            It’s a common fact that babies love motion- rocking in their parents’ arms, swinging in swings, and bouncing in chairs.  The reason behind this is that babies have a very sensitive vestibular system (ranking with touch in terms of most sensitive sense in a newborn), which controls the body’s ability to sense movement and balance.   The vestibular system is located in the inner ear (which explains why balance is sometimes affected during ear infections).  In adults, we know that our vestibular system is working when we don’t notice it; it is what keeps our field of vision constant when doing and activity like jogging- even though our eyes are bouncing up and down, our view remains steady.  When our vestibular system is off, dizziness and motion sickness can result.

 Now back to babies- in the womb, it’s one of the first brain structures to develop- at only 10 weeks old, a fetus can detect movement!  An eight-month fetus’s vestibular system is so developed that it actually sets off a baby’s first reflexes!  When a mama changes from sitting to standing, the change can activate the Moro reflex or startle reflex which is seen in newborns until about 3 months.  Even the fetus’s ability to position itself downward when it is time for labor and delivery is a result of a well-developed vestibular system.  After birth, nearly all newborn reflexes continue to be the result of activity in the vestibular system, including the doll’s eye reflex (in which baby will continue to look forward, although you may move his head) and asymmetrical neck reflex (identified by Gesell and discussed in this post.)  In fact, a human’s vestibular system reaches its peak of sensitivity between six to eight months of age.  So, any rocking or swinging of baby (like when baby is in a baby carrier) between these ages will especially activate the vestibular system. 

So, how does this help baby?  The vestibular system is the primary method that a newborn experiences their new surroundings, so it is likely that activating the vestibular system may improve their ability to take in all of the new sights and sounds.  This increased sensitivity could improve the development of motor, cognitive, and even emotional abilities. 

An experiment tested this hypothesis.  Infants between 3 to 13 months were put through 16 sessions of chair spinning, during which they were held by a researcher and spun around in a swivel chair.  Super fun for the infants!!  But, a control group was just held by the researchers in the swivel chair- no spinning and certainly not as much fun.  Well, the infants who got to spin around in the chairs also demonstrated more advanced development in reflexes and motor skills, especially walking, sitting, crawling, and standing.  This was even true for a set of fraternal twins- one of which had the joy of spinning in the chair and the other that just had to sit in the researcher’s lap. 

Another sign of the benefits of vestibular stimulation can be seen in neonatal units.  Preterm babies that are rocked, carried in baby carriers, or able to rock themselves in specially made baby water beds (I need to look into purchasing one of these as it could lead to 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep…) gained weight faster, breathed more regularly, slept more, and had more quiet, alert time than babies who did not experience vestibular stimulation. 

Parents also likely know one of the best aspects of continued vestibular stimulation.  A sleepy baby!  Babywearing provides as awesome opportunity to stimulate the vestibular system with the continuous, gentle rocking the babies (and toddlers!) feel.  Babies will be better able to experience the world around them, while being close to and encouraged by their parents.  So, strap on your baby carrier and start babywearing today!

We love our Erog and teething pads from RedCharlotte!

Sources:

"Babywearing International Resources." Babywearing International. Babywearing International, n.d. Web. 10 Oct 2011. <http://babywearinginternational.org/articles.php?article=1>.

Eliot, L. (1999). What’s going on in there? How the brain and mind develop in the first five years of life. Bantam Books: USA.

The Meaning of Play

This post is part of the Attachment Parenting Month blog carnival, hosted by Attachment Parenting International.

For children, play comes naturally.  Children can find play hiding in boxes, under trees, in mud pies, between mom’s never-to-be-worn-again dresses in the closet, and on top of the neighborhood’s tallest hill.  Children need no reason or goal in their play.  They just play because they want to and they can.

For adults, play does not seem to come naturally.  We seem to have lost our innocent desire for play in boxes in the garage that need to be sorted, under the piles of mud-stained laundry, between the bills that need to be paid, and in the desire to ensure that we give our children the absolute best chance for success in life.  In fact, play comes so unnaturally for adults that a researcher (Catherine Garvey of the University of Maryland) has decided to define play.  Apparently, there are five elements to “play”.

1.    Play must be pleasurable and enjoyable.  Easy enough.

2.    Play must have no extrinsic goals.  So, if Junior is “playing” on the computer with the newest Math Busters game to improve his test scores or out hitting some balls to make the Varsity team, it doesn’t count.  Tougher.

3.    Play is spontaneous and voluntary.  Here, if you are making Junior hit balls because it’s your favorite pastime, it doesn’t count.  Also, could be tough.

4.    Play involves active engagement.  So, watching TV is not play.  Watching big brother use the Wii is not play.  Easy enough.

5.    Play involves make believe.  Doable.

What links these elements?  Play should be left to the kids.  On the way home from school, a group of otherwise bored children can come up with an innovative way to use their lunchboxes as radars to help them find their way to the lunar launch site.  (See, it includes all five elements! Unless a trip to the moon is considered an extrinsic goal…)  It seems that adults can inadvertently take all of the fun out of play by providing more structured activities and timing. 

Still, adults shouldn’t step out completely.  Another study has revealed that an infant’s sense of exploration increases directly with the level of responsiveness that a mother shows towards his play activities.  By watching their mothers’ actions during play, infants learn how to play and, ultimately, entertain themselves (infants as young as 2 days old have been observed imitating adults around them!) Children get the most benefit from play (the benefits of play for children are countless- improved abilities to handle emotional difficulties, improved social skills, increased understanding of mathematical concepts, etc.) when adults guide them and provide new challenges or ideas, only when it is obvious that the children are ready to handle these next steps.

So, how can you be a secure base within your child’s play?  Ensure that play activities are child-led.  Take your cues from your children.  And, relax in the knowledge that by guiding, instead of leading his exploration, you are giving your child the best chance at Harvard or the Major Leagues. 

Sources:

Belsky, J., Goode, M.K., Most, R.K. (1980). Maternal stimulation and infant exploratory competence: Cross-sectional, correlational, and experimental analyses. Child Development, 51(4), 1168-1178

Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Golinkoff, R.R. (2004). Einstein never used flash cards. USA: Rodale.