Infant attachment: what it is, its stages and how it affects children
Explores infant attachment and its stages. Discover its impact on adulthood and learn to create a secure attachment for children. Don’t miss it!
What is infant attachment?
Infant attachment refers to the bonding that takes place between a child and their primary caregiver in the first years of life. This bond is the first meaningful relationship that babies experience and has a crucial impact on their emotional, social and psychological development. It’s manifested through behaviours such as proximity seeking, comfort in distress and trust that the caregiver will be there to provide support.
This theory was developed by the British psychiatrist John Bowlby and later enriched by Mary Ainsworth. This theory holds that children are born with a biological predisposition to form attachments to their primary caregivers, so attachment has an evolutionary function to ensure proximity to a protective figure, which increases the likelihood of survival. This emotional bond is important from a physical security perspective and provides a solid foundation for a child’s emotional, psychological and social development.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ATTACHMENT IN DEVELOPMENT
Attachment is the basis on which children build their understanding of the world and themselves. A secure attachment with the primary caregiver allows the child to feel protected and confident, which encourages the child to explore their environment and develop social and cognitive skills. In contrast, when attachment is insecure or inconsistent, the child may develop difficulties in trusting others or regulating their emotions. These early attachments shape the child’s expectations of future relationships, influencing how they will interact with others and how they will cope with emotional challenges throughout life.
STAGES OF ATTACHMENT IN INFANCY
Attachment is a gradual process that evolves in several stages:
- Pre-attachment phase (0-2 months): Proximity and protection phase. The child attracts the attention of a close adult, usually the mother. Begins to recognise sensory cues, such as smell and voice.
- Attachment formation (2-6 months): Babies begin to distinguish between people who are regularly present and those who are not.
- Attachment consolidation (6 months – 2): There is a search for proximity and use of the caregiver as a ‘safe base’ to explore the world.
- Forming a reciprocal relationship (from the age of 2 years): The child acquires language and cognitive skills, begins to understand that the caregiver has obligations, allowing the attachment relationship to become more balanced and begins to develop greater autonomy.
HOW CHILDHOOD ATTACHMENT AFFECTS ADULTHOOD
The type of attachment that a child develops in the early years has profound repercussions for their adult life. Mary Ainsworth, through her study ‘The Strange Situation’, identified several attachment patterns that influence people’s behaviour throughout their lives:
Secure attachment: adults trust others, are able to be emotionally intimate and have balanced self-esteem. Anxious-ambivalent attachment: These adults are emotionally dependent and fear abandonment, which leads them to behave in a possessive or demanding way, needing reassurance that they are loved. They experience high levels of anxiety in their relationships. Avoidant attachment: They tend to avoid emotional intimacy and are often self-sufficient. They often display contradictory behaviours in their relationships, alternating between the need for closeness and the fear of it.
Disorganised attachment: linked to experiences of abuse or neglect. They often display contradictory behaviours in their relationships, alternating between the need for closeness and the fear of it. Prone to develop emotional disturbances and have difficulties in establishing stable relationships.
Creating a secure attachment in childhood
SECURE ATTACHMENT IS BUILT THROUGH CONSISTENT, WARM AND RESPONSIVE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CAREGIVER AND CHILD. KEY STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE IT:
- Consistently responding to the child’sneeds, addressing their emotional and physical needs (such as crying, comfort, support and protection).
- Provide a predictable environment, establishing routines for eating, sleeping and playing with affectionate attention, thus conveying security and stability.
- Encouraging exploration, providing a balance between support and freedom. Caregivers can encourage the child to discover the world for themselves, while providing comfort and support.
- Make emotional support available, showing empathy and validation of the child’s emotion when they feel distressed or confused. This helps you learn to regulate your own emotions.
- Creating an emotional bond through play, which will allow them to learn social skills, emotional expression and the development of self-confidence
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Si bien es cierto que como adultos responsables debemos proteger al niño, también es cierto que hay que dejarlos que adquieran independencia desde sus primeros años para que cuando estén en situaciones complejas, en la adolescencia o la etapa adulta y deban tomar una decisión importante lo hagan con responsabilidad y respeto actuando desde la empatía.
Si bien es cierto que como adultos responsables debemos proteger al niño, también es cierto que hay que dejarlos que adquieran independencia desde sus primeros años para que cuando estén en situaciones complejas, en la adolescencia o la etapa adulta y deban tomar una decisión importante lo hagan con responsabilidad y respeto actuando desde la empatía.
