Infant mother relationship (bonding and attachment)
Bonding is the term used to describe the intense emotional and psychological relationship a mother develops for her baby.
Infant shows a rapidly increasing responsivity to the external environment and an ability to form a special relationship with significant primary caregivers -that is to form an attachment.
Type of attachment: secure, insecure/avoidant attachment, insecure/ambivalent attachment
- Secure: These children have typically received more consistent and developmentally appropriate parenting; they show fewer adjustments problems as children
- Insecure/avoidant attachment: Children become anxious, clinging and angry with parent. These children come from families with adults who were also insecurely attached to their families and thus are unable to provide the kind of consistency, emotional responsiveness and care that securely parents could offer.
- Insecure/ambivalent attachment: Children generally are raised with disorganized, neglecting, and inattentive parenting. The children are even more likely to become clinging but inconsolable in their distress as well as to act out, suffer mood swings and become oversensitive to stress.