Show your baby how much you enjoy being together through cuddles, hugs, talking and singing. Have face-to-face interactions and respond to their reactions. New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. (2013). New Jersey Council for Young Children. Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2016). From Best Practices to Breakthrough Impacts: A Science-Based Approach to Building a More Promising Future for Young Children and Families. Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu Feldman, R., (2007d.) Parent-infant synchrony: biological foundations and developmental outcomes. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 16, 340–346. Landry SH, Smith KE, Swank PR. (2006). Responsive parenting: Establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills. Developmental Psychology., 42:627– 642.
Playing with children lovingly and responsively helps build early attachment relationships. Children with secure attachments to their caregivers as infants showed better outcomes in social development such as empathy Kestenbaum, R., Farber, E., Ellen, A., & Sroufe L. A. (1989). Individual differences in empathy among preschoolers: Relation to attachment history. New Directions for Child Development, 44, 51-64. Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, 16, 41-83. Sroufe, L. A. (1983). Infant-caregiver attachment and patterns of adaptation in preschool: The roots of maladaptation and competence. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, 16, 41-83. Thompson, R. A. (2008). Early attachment and later development: Familiar questions, new answers. In: Cassidy J, Shaver PR, eds. Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. 2nd Ed. New York: Guilford Press, 348- 365. Thompson, R. A. (2008). Early attachment and later development: Familiar questions, new answers. In: Cassidy J, Shaver PR, eds. Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. 2nd Ed. New York: Guilford Press, 348- 365. Egeland, B. & Carlson, B. (2004). Attachment and psychopathology. In: Atkinson L, Goldberg S, eds. Attachment issues in psychopathology and intervention. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 27-48. Lyons-Ruth, K., Easterbrooks, M. A, & Cibelli, C. D. (1997). Infant attachment strategies, infant mental lag, and maternal depressive symptoms: Predictors of internalizing and externalizing problems at age 7. Developmental Psychology, 33(4), 681-692.
Holding and talking to babies during play is a form of contingent communication where parents pay attention to what babies are trying to communicate and respond positively and consistently. This mode of communication creates a secure environment that gives babies the possibility to trust that they have someone to depend on in case of need.
When early attachment relationships are mainly warm, positive and consistent, children feel safe with their caregivers, who become a "secure base" for them. As such, children feel free and confident to explore and interact with the world. This helps in their learning and development and builds resilience in the future. Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York, NY: Basic Books. Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Juffer, F. (2003). Less is more: Meta-analyses of sensitivity and attachment interventions in early childhood. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 195–215. Landry SH, Smith KE, Swank PR. (2006). Responsive parenting: Establishing early foundations for social, communication, and independent problem-solving skills. Developmental Psychology., 42:627–642.
Research into parent-child interactions found that face-to-face interactions between parent and child such as following babies' gaze, responding to them or talking about what they are looking at help build secure relationships and later, self regulation.
Calling your baby's name helps your baby develop self-awareness as a being who is separate from the people in the environment. Research on 1 to 2-month-old babies showed that infants begin to manifest a clear sense of their agency in the world at around two months of age. Babies could start to control how strongly they sucked at a bottle to get what they wanted instead of allowing external factors to influence the process. This stage is known as the intersubjectivity stage, where babies begin to understand that they are separate persons from people in the environment. With that awareness, babies will initiate interactions and respond to others. Calling babies by their names helps build self-awareness and facilitates babies’ initiating and responding when interacting with others. Feldman, R., (2007d.) Parent-infant synchrony: biological foundations and developmental outcomes. Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 16, 340–346. Rochat, P., & Striano, T. (1999b). Emerging self-exploration by 2-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 2, 206–218. Rochat, P. (2001). Origins of self-concept. In G. Bremner & A. Fogel (Eds.), Handbooks of developmental psychology. Blackwell handbook of infant development (pp. 191-212). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.