Infant Attachment Analysis

A secure attachment bond ensures that a newborn will feel secure, understood, and be calm enough to experience optimal development of his or her nervous system. During the prenatal period, there are some form of attachment between the mother and fetus which includes listening to the heart beat of the fetus, feeling the kicks, and verbal and nonverbal communicating with the fetus. After childbirth, the bonding/ attachment between the parent and newborn is secured (Schenk & Kelly, 2005). The secured bonding is unidirectional. It can be bonding between parents to child or child to parents. Attachment process can be enabled through social, verbal, and nonverbal responses. In addition, parents easily secure attachment with their infant if the birth of a child meet their expectation in terms of gender, appearance, personality and social capabilities. Some of the parental behaviors affecting infant attachment are eye contact hovers, names infant, touches infant, smiles at infant, sings to infant, expresses pride
in infant, views infant’s behavior and appearance in positive light. Conversely, some infant behaviors affecting parental attachment are tracking or following of parent’s face, appealing facial appearance, crying only when hungry or wet, sucks well, enjoys being cuddled and held, easily consolable (Lowdermilk, Perry, & Cushion, 2014, p. 417-419).

Nurses are patients’ advocate and they can promote parent-infant attachment by providing an opportunity for parents to see, hold, and examine the baby, determine parents’ knowledge, readiness, and ability to learn about infant care, monitor behavior that may indicate problem with attachment, create environment that fosters privacy, assess feeding techniques and assist as needed ((Lowdermilk, Perry, & Cushion, 2014, p.
420).
Last week, I had an opportunity to work in FCU with a mother that had C- section. She already had a name for the baby even before she was born. In addition, she fed her baby few minutes after deliver and also informed her RN that she would like to breastfeed her baby for about a year. Furthermore, she maintained skin-to-skin contact with her baby and also interacted with her baby several times. Her husband carried the baby most of the time, made eye-contact with her. He was very excited when his wife said the baby’s nose resembled his
nose.
Although I have not seen any nurse exhibit behaviors that can hinder bonding between mother and child in St. Vincent, a nurse can however inhibit bonding by not caring for a mother in pain. Lack of pain assessment and treatment can prevent bonding between a mother and baby. In addition, poor knowledge on how to breastfeed a baby can also prevent bonding. Furthermore, child birth can be stressful for parents. Lack of encouragement and support can also inhibit bonding between parent and infant.