Maternal mind-mindedness over infants' first three months.

Maternal mind-mindedness refers to mothers' ability to reflect upon their infants' mental states and respond appropriately. The present study assessed mind-mindedness longitudinally from the newborn period to the infant age of three months. The study is the first to assess maternal mind-mindedness in the infant's early life prior to three months (one week, one month, two months, three months).

Influences of infants' and mothers' contingent vocal responsiveness on young infants' vocal social bids in the Still Face Task.

Infants' social bids in the still face phase of the Still Face Task demonstrate their emerging sense of self agency as these behaviors happen in the absence of the partner's social overtures. The study examined the role of infants' contingent responsiveness to their mothers in social interactions on their social bidding to the mother when she becomes unresponsive. Social bids are non-distress vocalizations or smiles while looking at the unresponsive partner.

Intersubjectivity and the Emergence of Words.

Intersubjectivity refers to two non-verbal intersubjective relations infants experience during their first year that are precursors to the emergence of words. Trevarthen, a pioneer in the study of intersubjectivity, referred to those relations as primary and secondary intersubjectivity. The former, a dyadic coordination between the infant and her caregiver, begins at birth.

Mother-Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact: Short- and Long-Term Effects for Mothers and Their Children Born Full-Term.

This brief report reviews findings from a longitudinal study of skin-to-skin contact (SSC) with mothers and full-term infants and a follow-up study of these dyads when the children were 9 years. Findings infer the positive influence of SSC on mother-child interactions in infancy and into children's middle childhood. Mothers and infants in SSC and control groups were seen when infants were 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on Ghanaian infants' response to the Still Face Task: Comparison between Ghanaian and Canadian mother-infant dyads.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on Ghanaian infants' developing social expectations for maternal behavior was investigated. Infants with high and low mother-infant skin-to-skin contact experience in the infants' first month engaged with their mothers in a Still Face Task at 6 weeks of age. Infants with high skin-to-skin contact experience, but not those with low skin-to-skin contact experience, demonstrated the still face effect with their smiles.

Longitudinal relations among maternal depressive symptoms, maternal mind-mindedness, and infant attachment behavior.

The relations among maternal depression risk, maternal mind-mindedness, and infants' attachment behavior were longitudinally examined in a community sample of mother-infant dyads. Maternal self-reported depression risk was measured at the infant ages of 6 weeks, 4 months, and 12 months. Maternal mind-mindedness, assessed from mothers' comments about infants' mental states (e.

Breastfeeding, skin-to-skin contact, and mother-infant interactions over infants' first three months.

The effects of skin-to-skin contact (SSC) on the maintenance of mothers' decision to breastfeed, the effects of breastfeeding and SSC on mother-infant interactions, and whether maternal depressive symptoms mediate these effects were investigated over infants' first 3 months. When infants were 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months of age, mothers in the SSC and control groups reported the type of infant feeding provided and completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS; J.L.

Effect of mother/infant skin-to-skin contact on postpartum depressive symptoms and maternal physiological stress.

Objective: To investigate the effect of mother/infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC) on mothers' postpartum depressive symptoms during the first 3 postpartum months and their physiological stress during the first postpartum month.

Design: Longitudinal quasi-experiment.

Setting: Data were collected during home visits.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on infants' response to the Still Face Task from newborn to three months of age.

The effect of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact on infants' developing social expectations for maternal behavior was investigated longitudinally over infants' first 3 months. Infants with and without skin-to-skin contact engaged with their mothers in the Still Face Task at ages 1 week, 1 month, 2 months, and 3 months. Infants with skin-to-skin contact began responding to changes in their mothers' behavior with their affect at 1 month; infants without skin-to-skin contact did so at 2 months.

The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact and later maternal sensitivity in South African mothers of low birth weight infants.

The relation between early mother-infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC) and mothers' subsequent sensitivity to their low birth weight infants was investigated in a study of 12 mother-infant dyads who participated in a South African randomized control study of early SSC. The dyads were visited in the home when infants were under 1 year. Amounts of SSC were taken from hospital records and home interviews.

Maternal sensitivity throughout infancy: continuity and relation to attachment security.

Relations among different measures of maternal sensitivity were assessed longitudinally by examining maternal behavior when infants were 4 months, 15 months, and 2.5 years. At each time period, two measures of maternal sensitivity were scored (4 months: maternal vocal and smiling contingency in face-to-face interactions; 15 months: maternal scaffolding and following of infants' play within joint attention; 2.

Infants' Response to Maternal Mirroring in the Still Face and Replay Tasks.

Infants' response to maternal mirroring was investigated in 4-month-old infants. Mother-infant dyads participated in the still face and replay tasks. Infants were grouped by those whose mothers did and did not mirror their behavior in the interactive phases of the tasks.

Distinguishing Mother-Infant Interaction From Stranger-Infant Interaction at 2, 4, and 6 Months of Age.

Observers watched videotaped face-to-face mother-infant and stranger-infant interactions of 12 infants at 2, 4, or 6 months of age. Half of the observers saw each mother paired with her own infant and another infant of the same age (mother tapes) and half saw each infant paired with his or her mother and with a stranger (infant tapes). Observers were asked to judge which was the mother-infant dyad in each pair.

Two-Month-Old Infants' Sensitivity to Social Contingency in Mother-Infant and Stranger-Infant Interaction.

Two-month-old infants (N = 29) participated in face-to-face interactions with their mothers and with strangers. The contingent responsiveness for smiles and vocalizations, while attending to the partner, was assessed for each partner in both interactions. For smiles and for vocalizations, infants were less responsive to the stranger relative to the mother when the stranger's contingent responsiveness was either more contingent or less contingent than that of the mother.

The role of joint attention in the development of infants' play with objects.

Year-old infants' play was scored within and outside joint attention with mother and when alone for four levels of maturity: stereotypical, inappropriate relational, appropriate relational, functional. Maternal sensitivity within joint attention was rated on two measures: following infants' interests and scaffolding infants' activities. Infants' play was more advanced with mother than when alone.

The development of joint attention in blind infants.

There is little documentation of how and when joint attention emerges in blind infants because the study of this ability has been predominantly reliant on visual information. Ecological self-knowledge, which is necessary for joint attention, is impaired in blind infants and is evidenced by their reaching for objects on external cues, which also marks the beginning of their Stage 4 understanding of space and object. Entry into Stage 4 should occur before joint attention emerges in these infants.