JOURNAL - International Childbirth Education Association

RECIPROCAL INTERACTIONS AS FOUNDATION FOR ATTACHMENT from page 5
ment when lying down. After birth, women find great
pleasure in watching movements of their newborns and
relating them to sensations of pregnancy. Such observations
probably have an effect on integrating attachment
feelings for the fetus, the baby imagined in pregnancy,
and the real baby (Brazelton and Cramer 1990).
Much of the unborn and newborn baby’s movement
is reflexive in nature. These reflexes allow babies to respond
to and act on the world around them (Cole and
Cole 1993). For example, the crawling reflex may play a
role in the baby’s descent during labor. Bringing the hand
to the mouth and sucking can be observed frequently
throughout the prenatal period. After birth, this skill is an
important component of infant self-comforting. Movement
is, of course, a measure of fetal well-being. Introducing
the idea of fetal movement counts, as a way of spending
time with the baby to affirm wellness, supports a central
component of healthy parenting: paying attention. This is
more holistic than recommending fetal movement counts
solely as a way to identify a potential problem. It is hard
to engage in social discourse when all you are listening
for is bad news.
Just as before birth, the foundations of attachment
work between parent and baby after birth are largely
sensory. To the interaction, the baby brings all of the
sensory and motor skills developed during the prenatal
period. The quiet alert state into which babies are born
allows them to demonstrate not only that they can see,
hear, feel, and smell their parents, but that it is their parents’
voices, touch, faces, and odors that are preferred. A
newborn recognizes the sound of the mother’s or father’s
voice, turns towards it, scans the environment visually
to find that familiar person, and often orients the body
toward the parent. When in a parent’s arms, the baby
nestles in, clings with the grasp reflex, and roots to find
the comfort of suckling. New parents bring the same
sensory awareness to their babies. The very appearance
of the newborn draws out nurturing responses: head large
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in proportion to the rest of the body, rounded forehead,
large eyes, and round, full cheeks all make giving over
to the needs of the baby easier (Lorenz 1943). In the
first days after birth, mothers recognize their newborns
readily by odor (Porter, Cernoch, and McLaughlin 1983).
This primal sensitivity heightens awareness of the baby
in ways that baby books and parenting classes cannot.
Baby observation becomes a full-time job. The intensity of
this observation is reflected in the questions asked about
physical appearance, newborn behaviors, and caretaking
skills. As professionals, it is easy to overlook the meaning
of these questions. For the parents, the ability to distinguish
between normal and abnormal, what to expect, and
how to respond are literally issues of life and death. The
shadow side of the attachment work going on is fear of
loss. Taming the monsters of those fears is a large part
of the work of postpartum, learning to believe in one’s
ability to parent in such a way that both parent and baby
will survive and thrive.
Professionals can assist parents in beginning awareness
of the reciprocal nature of interactions with their
babies by talking with them, both before and after birth,
about their babies’ emerging sensory-motor skills. Even
well-educated parents who have seen the unborn baby
several times on sonogram, know the sex of the baby, or
have named the baby are often surprised to learn that
babies are born innately social — and that social interaction
begins before birth. Many parents have not brought
to conscious awareness the reality that their baby has
sensory competencies before as well as after birth.
Questions such as the following, asked during pregnancy,
invite parents to notice the reciprocal nature of
interactions occurring with their babies:
• When is the baby most active?
• D o c e r t a i n p o s i t i o n s y o u
are in change the baby’s activity?
• Does your baby move differently when it has been
a while since you have eaten
or right after a meal?
• Are you becoming more
aware of the baby’s sleep
and awake pattern? What is
that pattern like?
• Does the baby seem to respond
differently to different
voices. For example, what
happens when the baby is
moving and you call your
partner (or a sibling) closer
to watch?
• Are there any sounds your
baby seems to like, such as a
certain type of music? Have
you noticed the baby startle
or become almost overactive
in response to any sounds?
When the baby is active and
you (your continued partner, on a sibling)
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