Ed Tronick states: “The most widely accepted model of the caretaking environment of the human infant at birth and into the second year of life is that it should provide relatively continuous care and almost constant contact between the infant and mother, with frequent nursing bouts of short duration” (2007, p102). A lack of maternal care or multiple extensive care-giving has detrimental effects on social, emotional and cognitive development. This model integrates evolutionary and cross-species perspectives with psychological views of infant development and maternal caregiving. Decades of research shows that ancient societies knew how to facilitate optimal development in children (Porges, in Mitchell, Tuuci and Tronick). These societies did this by giving cues of safety through family and community.
Bowlby (1969) claimed that a biological structure takes the form that is determined by the environment in which the system has been functioning throughout its evolution. He calls this ‘the environment of evolutionary adaptedness’ (EEA). It is only within this environment can the system be expected to operate efficiently. This is a human’s ‘ordinary expectable environment’. Attachment transactions shape the connectivity of the early developing right brain which is dominant for ‘control of vital functions supporting survival and for the processing of emotions’ (Schore, 2021, p.340).
Donald Winnicott argued that an infant does not exist in isolation but within the context of the child-caregiver relationship (Hart, 2010). Treating children is also about treating their environment, including parents, family and larger social networks. John Bowlby observed that in previous generations mothers were surrounded by their own mothers, sisters, cousins and other family members, all of whom were involved in raising the children. These helpers, writes Susan Hart, both allowed the mother to take breaks from her caregiving role but also provided support, advice and friendship. It also meant the child had access to alternative attachment figures which put the parent-child relationship under less pressure. In modern society, families are more vulnerable and parent’s inadequacies may lead to damage in the attachment relationship, as there is no one to step in when the parent is struggling to cope with the pressure of child-rearing.
Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss.
Hart, S. (2010). The impact of attachment (Norton series on interpersonal neurobiology). W. W. Norton & Company.
Tronick, E. (2007). The Neurobehavioral and social-emotional development of infants and children (Norton series on interpersonal neurobiology). W. W. Norton & Company.