Secure attachment in the first years of life positively influences learning ability and emotional development

During the first years of a baby's life, its neurons form new connections at an amazing speed, between 700 to 1,000 per second, a rhythm that will never be repeated. The future of the child will depend on these connections, so it is very important to favor his correct neuronal development from the first moment.

Patricia Gutiérrez and Patricia Sánchez, founding psychologists of the TAP Center "Advanced Psychological Treatment", explain how they influence early experiences after the birth of the child in his future learning capacity and mental well-being.

The importance of a secure attachment in your first 1,000 days

There is much talk about the importance of the first 1,000 days of the baby's life and how everything that happens in these first three years ends up having an impact on his future.

At this time, the child's brain begins to develop at high speed, acquiring the social and emotional language and skills that he will need for his adult stage. Its future welfare will depend on its correct development, not in vain, 40% of adult mental abilities are formed in the first three years of life.

During those first 1,000 days, the child develops 85% of his brain capacity, and his correct development will depend on the quality of his first interactions, especially with his reference figures. In Babies and more, can childhood attachment affect our mental health in adulthood?

In this sense, the experts explain that for promote the full emotional development of the child and grow knowing how to relateIt is essential that during its first years of life the family fosters high emotional stability through a secure attachment.

Keys to favor a secure attachment

The family of the child in general, and more specifically their parents or reference figures, should favor the construction of this secure attachment responding to the needs of the child, and providing the stability and emotional security you need by:

  • physical contact: touching our children, hugging them and raising them with love and respect, will generate oxytocin that will help them grow calm, relaxed, confident and feeling loved.

  • the words and the smiles, since according to research, this type of interaction with attachment figures at an early age nourishes the baby and stimulates their emotional development.

  • time together, since during the first years of life, children enter into the first relationships with their closest family circle, being the most intense emotionally and physically speaking relationship that is created with their parents and, above all, with their mother.

  • comfort and protection: The brain of a baby who feels unattended will generate cortisol, the stress hormone, which will make him grow fearful, distrustful and scary. That is why it is important to comfort the crying child, and as he grows up, accompany him emotionally from safety and respect.

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  • the game, because through free play they will learn to know and interact with the world around them, they will improve their psychomotor skills and language and, ultimately, it will have a positive impact on their cognitive, social and educational development.

  • proper feeding, breastfeeding being recommended in the first months of life.

This attachment bond causes the child a series of feelings that make them grow up knowing that they are important to someone and, therefore, favoring their safety and self-esteem.

The importance of seeking help during parenting

But we all know that raising a child is not always easy and sometimes it is exhausting, so the psychologist Patricia Gutiérrez, aware of the stress that parents sometimes go through, insists on the importance of tear down the false myth that relates to asking for help with being a worse mother or father:

"Many parents fall into stress and anxiety episodes motivated by thoughts like "this is harder than I imagined", "I don't understand why he cries!", "I don't know what to do now!", "This is exhausting", "I don't have time to breathe" ...

"That is why it is important that parents look for supports, keys and parenting strategies Let them see that what they do is best for themselves and their babies. And as we train for long periods to develop our professional role, it is important to normalize the request for help with regard to parenting, as part of the process of knowing and developing our parental role "

In this sense, the role of the family and the tribe, of educators, of parenting groups and, of course, of the emotional health professionals to help us both in the perinatal stage - during pregnancy and the first years of parenting -, as in other periods of our life.

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Photos | iStock

Acknowledgments | TAP Center "Advanced Psychological Treatment"

Video: The Attachment Theory: How Childhood Affects Life (March 2024).