Theories Of Bonding And Attachment

Infant Cognitive Development Bonding and attachment are often interchangeable terminology utilized to describe the connection between parents and infants (Redshaw, & Martin, 2013). Often a mother becomes attached to a child simply from the action of pregnancy and feeling the child growing, moving even hiccupping fosters an attachment based on this physical experience (Redshaw, & Martin, 2013). Bonding, however, occurs post birth, this is a bond that is developed within the first hours, day and weeks of life. When parent’s experiences a crisis during birth; rendering them unable to bond in the way planned, parents are concerned that they will miss the window of opportunity to bond with their child (Redshaw, & Martin, 2013). Research has shown that there is not a fleeting moment that bonding must happen by; in the case of illness, hospitals will encourage as much save skin to skin exposure as possible for the parent’s to encourage bonding. Skin to skin contact allows to developing a bond throughout this close physical contact. This bond is the first pinion in the emotional and cognitive development of an individual. …show more content…
Additionally, infant-parent attachment theories are broken down into four distinct categories; secure, insecure - avoidant, insecure–resistant and insecure–disorganized; the type of attachment that has developed between parents and child cannot fully be assessed until the child’s first birthday. The long-term effect of these attachments have been documented throughout countless studies, identifying the dynamics for each of the attachments (Benoit,