The early morning frost singed my fingers and toes during feeding time and as the day warmed up, we all thawed out in the midday sun. Safely ensconced at my mother’s Kwazulunatal ‘Horselovers Haven’, I was blissfully spending time in the herd, lying down with my horse in the grass and playing with him while …
Today I bumbed into a client whose births I attended a few years ago. Karen happened to be driving past the gate as I stepped out of my Cape Town home. Seven years ago in Cape Town, Karen birthed Teano, her firstborn son, in hospital and was home a few hours later. Second time around, Karen gave birth …
Kangaroo Mother Care was initiated in Bogota, Colombia after a dying newborn premature baby was handed to her mother as a last resort. The mother placed the baby skin to skin on her chest to say her last goodbyes and the little one thrived and survived. Doctors observed the
It is these kinds of actions that will help us as a society to prevent the loss and despair in the newborn, described by John Bowlby so eloquently, and enable a mother to provide the right kind of interaction and closeness for her baby’s emotional and neurological development. It is out of such actions that mutual co-operation and loving partnerships will grow for our children.
Attachment is defined as the lifelong need human beings have for affectionate ties with significant other human beings. It is a biological necessity for Human Beings to have a secure attachment relationship. The development of the brain and emotional regulation capacities depends on this attachment from late pregnancy to at least 2 years of age. Infants who have been responded to sensitively and held frequently and affectionately during the early months, cry less towards the end of the first year and are able to play happily and explore their environment.