3.4 Communication and Parent-Infant Bonding

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3.4 Communication and Parent Bonding

Lesson 3.4: Communication
and Parent-Infant Bonding

​Lesson Objectives:
1) Identify parent-infant bonding
2) Identify the benefits of reading to infants
3) Identify the four attachment styles that infants may develop
4) Explain strategies for improving communication between parent and infant

Word Cloud

Warm-up!

What is your favorite game.

(Can be computer-based, a board game, a video game, etc.)

Warm Up Continued

• Your earliest memories might include games you played with your parents or other children.

• Chances are that one of the first games you

ever played was peek-a-boo.

Why do you believe that game playing is important for infants?

You can start your answer with:

• I think that game playing is important for infants because . . .

​

​In the chat...

Game playing is important for
-developing relationships between people, including bonds between caregivers and infants.

Open Ended

Now that you've had more time to think about it, what was one of your favorite games as a child to play with someone else, such as your parents?

Now, let's talk about Parent-Infant Communication

Parent-Infant
Communication

• Babies are born to be social and begin to connect with their caregivers soon after birth.
The formation of a close relationship between a
caregiver and an infant is called bonding.

Bonding is encouraged through communication and interactions.

• Newborns first communicate by crying.

Crying is a sign that babies are in distress and need something.

How should we respond when a baby cries?

• Remember that although each child is different, there are certain expected communication
milestones.

• Milestones are specific developmental tasks that all children should achieve at
approximately the same age.

Parent-Infant Communication cont...

• The most important thing is to talk to infants consistently. Ask and answer questions and describe
what is happening.

• Parents or caregivers can also encourage communication by listening and responding to sounds
their child makes. Imitating sounds and words
teaches infants to respond.

• Caregivers should make reading to infants a part of

the daily routine. Reading helps infants learn to
recognize colors and everyday items. It is an
opportunity to bond while developing communication
skills.

• Singing and playing games with infants also helps

develop communication skills.

Poll

Did you caregiver read any of these books to you?

• Goodnight, Moon!

• If you Give a Mouse a Cookie

• The Pout-Pout Fish

• Cat in the Hat

Multiple Choice

Why is reading to INFANTS especially beneficial?

• It creates an insecure attachment with the caregiver.

• It helps them become more empathetic.

• It encourages children to use nonverbal language skills.

• It helps develop emotional bonding and communication skills.

Language Development

• As children learn language skills, they learn how to arrange

• Caregivers should also read, sing, and speak to infants.

• Baby talk, or infant-directed speech, is a way to

communicate and use language with young children.

• Research shows that baby talk, which is slow, has a sing-song

tone, and uses different pitches, helps infants learn better.

​Their first attempt at communication is through babbling. Parents or caregivers can repeat these sounds to help encourage the infant to try new sounds.

Multiple Choice

At which age do infants start to prefer familiar faces?

• From birth

• One month old

• Eight Weeks Old

• Three Months Old

Infant Facial Recognition and
Expressions

• Despite their limited vision, babies prefer familiar faces from birth. 

• By two months, babies will recognize their caregivers' faces, and this helps them bond with their caregivers at a young age.  

• Babies prefer happy faces, open eyes, and exaggerated facial expressions. In the first year of life, infants try to replicate these expressions. 

• Babies can smile as early as nine weeks, but they will not use this movement to communicate until after six months. 

• At around eight months, babies will also try to imitate the facial expressions of their parents. 

• Infants absorb information by focusing on the facial expressions of others and replicate these expressions to try to communicate. 

• Some examples include:

  • Babies that rub their eyes are often tired and ready for a nap. They also might ball their fists or tug on their ears.

  • Babies that look excited and make an 'o' shape with their mouths are ready for playtime and engagement. They may also clap or wave their hands.

  • Babies that pucker their lips or suck on their hands are indicating that they are hungry.

Match

Match the facial expression of an infant with what it generally means.

Indicates that an infant is hungry

Indicates that an infant is tired

Indicates that an infant wants to play

• Indicates that an infant is hungry

• Indicates that an infant is tired

• Indicates that an infant wants to play

Let's talk in more detail about playing games

​Parents can increase bonding experiences and communication development with play-based learning. 

• Play in early childhood is a powerful learning tool for children. It can stimulate learning and encourage cognitive and emotional development. 

• Play-based learning includes:

  • bonding and connections

  • positive attitudes about learning

  • social and emotional development

• When playing together, infants and caregivers forge meaningful connections. Bonding can have long-term impacts on development. 

​Playing and Bonding with Infants

Multiple Select

How do games help infants develop positive attitudes toward learning?

• They help build confidence by mastering new skills.

• They allow infants to keep trying until they are succesful.

• They build infants' listening and speaking skills to improve social interactions.

• They teach infants to imitate adult actions.

Let's talk in more detail about attachment styles

Match

Review! Match the attachment styles with its correct description.

• When infants know that caregivers will protect them and take care of them

• When infants avoid their caregivers because they do not want to anger them

• When infants try to gain their caregiver's attention because they receive inconsistent care

• When infants have experienced neglect, abuse, or mistreatment

Secure attachment

Avoidant attachment

Ambivalent attachment

Disorganized attachment

• Secure attachment

• Avoidant attachment

• Ambivalent attachment

• Disorganized attachment

Attachment
Styles

• Attachment is a deep emotional bond between infants and their caregivers. 

• Attachment between an infant and a caregiver starts almost immediately. 

• Picking up a crying baby, changing a diaper, and feeding all build attachment.

• Researchers have identified four attachment styles to explain how children respond to their environment. 

• These styles are developed in the first three years of a child's life.

• Caregivers should respond to infants' needs consistently and warmly in order to build positive attachments.

• Infants that do not have positive attachments may experience anxiety. 

Separation and Stranger Anxiety

• Most infants start to develop anxieties at about eight to nine months old. 

• One of these anxieties is separation anxiety, an infant’s fear of being left alone or being separated from their primary caregivers. 

• Infants may also develop stranger anxiety, which occurs when infants develop a fear of unknown people

• Children who continue to display anxieties later in life should see a medical professional.

• Typical anxieties in children include:

  • separation anxiety

  • stranger anxiety

Multiple Select

What steps can caregivers take to lessen stranger anxieties in infants? Select all that apply.

• Refrain from taking infants to the part or other populated areas.

• Comfort the infant and talk to them while meeting new people.

• Keep infants who are experiencing stranger anxiety isolated.

• Have infants spend time with caregivers before they are left alone with them.

Match

Review! Match the attachment styles with its correct description.

• When infants know that caregivers will protect them and take care of them

• When infants avoid their caregivers because they do not want to anger them

• When infants try to gain their caregiver's attention because they receive inconsistent care

• When infants have experienced neglect, abuse, or mistreatment

Secure attachment

Avoidant attachment

Ambivalent attachment

Disorganized attachment

• Secure attachment

• Avoidant attachment

• Ambivalent attachment

• Disorganized attachment

Summary

In this lesson, you learned that:

• parent-infant bonding is important to infant development;

• infants communicate with their caregivers through crying, developing language skills, and facial expressions;

• game-playing and reading can increase parent-infant bonding and communication skills;

• attachment theory was developed to explain how the relationships between parents and infants can impact people’s long-term mental and physical health; and

• separation and stranger anxieties are normal, but caregivers can take steps to help mitigate their effects.

• Friday, 10/11/24, RECORDING:  you will learn about infant movement, coordination, and senses.

• Ticket out...

Multiple Choice

Which of the following MOST accurately defines bonding?

• An anxiety that forms when infants are left alone

• A method of ensuring that infants develop positive social skills

• Mimicking the facial expressions of the caregiver

• The formation of a close relationship between caregiver and an infant