Mental health articles

During the first year of life the infant will grow and develop more rapidly,
physically, emotionally and socially than during any other life period. The
foundation is laid for language development and mobility that enables infants
increasing independence as they explore the world and share their new
experiences with key adults. While there is great variation in the speed at which
infants develop and the week or month at which particular milestones are
attained, it is possible to identify key developmental shifts in the first year,
where, providing the environment has been adequate, advances in brain
development are marked by developmental shifts in behaviour (Sroufe, 1996).
These periods also indicate changes in the role of caregivers, who are required
to constantly adapt themselves to the rapidly developing infant in their care (see
Sroufe, 1996, p. 161).
For example, the first three months can be thought of as a time when the
primary goal is the development of physiological regulation. This includes the
routines of settling, sleeping, feeding and alertness. The infant is adjusting to
being outside the womb and in the world and the parent is assisting the
development of cycles and patterns that mark the infant’s day and lay the
foundation for later development of self-regulation. In the following three
months the infant is less overwhelmed by bodily sensations and has more time
for social interaction. This is a time when ideally parent and infant have more
time to enjoy each other. The baby develops physical control of his body and
upper limbs, enabling him to view and interact with the world in a new way.
Between 6 and 12 months the stage is set for the further development of
attachment relationships. Through repeated interactions with caregivers, the
infant begins to internalise representations of themselves and the world that
form the basis of the security or otherwise of their attachments to their primary
caregivers. Mobility also develops and as the infant is able to crawl and then
walk away, to explore independently, he increasingly exhibits attachment-related
behaviours that link him to his caregiver. During this time separation protest is
likely to be present and the infant begins to show a clear preference for certain
adults.
The last three months of the first year have been described as a period of
‘initiative and internalization’ (Lieberman & Slade, 1997a). Infants seek to sharetheir experiences with key others and language is added to gesture and
vocalisation as ways to communicate. Trevarthen (2001) has called this
‘intersubjectivity’, the desire to share experience and emotional state with
significant others.
In the following example, Netta, mother of Kyle (aged 10 months) describes
his increasing physical mobility and exploration and his need to check in with or
stay connected to her with voice or visual cues before further exploration.
Kyle has been crawling for a few weeks now. Usually I sit in the lounge room
while he crawls around and he seems to feel safe to just cruise the room while I
am there. If I get up and walk away, he cries and needs to be picked up and carried
to where I am, or sometimes he’ll settle if I call out to him to let him know I’m
still there. He doesn’t seem to want to follow after me though. Today, when I was
sitting watching him crawl, I noticed him heading off further than usual, down
the hall. He got about half way down and then turned around and looked back at
me. I smiled and encouraged him for making such a big effort and he crawled a
bit further. Then he really seemed like he had got to the end of a ‘rope’, I guess it
was his comfort zone, and he needed to turn around and head back to base.
(Netta, mother of Kyle, 10 months.)