Every newborn comes into this world with a unique legacy and unique potential. That doesn’t mean, as developmental experts remind us, that infancy is destiny, at least not in any simplistic way. Mothers, fathers, family, caregivers, and community all help provide the psychological and physical environment that will provide babies with emotional, social, and cognitive support.

Over the span of history, observes Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, cultures have varied tremendously in the rituals they have devised for these new arrivals. “Babies may be swaddled or wear diapers. They may be draped with amulets, dusted with talcum, basted with palm oil, or ceremoniously finger-painted with protective symbols. But regardless of language or custom, the message conveyed by such ministrations is equivalent: you are cared for and will continue to be. Love (and that is a perfectly good word for what we are talking about here) is a message babies are all too eager to receive, and small wonder.”

Deepak Chopra concurs. “I think the important thing to realize is the mystery that we call love expresses itself through all of these experiences: sound, touch, sight, taste, smell, emotions, body language, eye movements, voice tone, facial expressions, gestures…” There is no way to separate all of these various elements of a baby’s experience from love, says Chopra, “because love is not just a mere sentiment or an emotion; it’s the ultimate truth at the heart of creation.”

The bond between mother and child is all the more extraordinary for being so dynamic, so adaptable. It is present at the very beginning of life in the mother’s womb, when it is not so much a bond as a biological oneness. It is present in the earliest weeks of infancy, as the mother provides the close physical, emotional, and social environment in which the baby grows and develops. And it is present even as it is reflected in all of the burgeoning social and emotional bonds of childhood and beyond. It is a bond that blooms.

More on this topic

Mother-Baby Bond: The Biology of Love (VIDEO)
Mother-Baby Bond: The Biology of Love
Establishing New Life
Nurture & Protect
Growth & Sensations
Adapting & Anticipating
Joyous Mom, Joyous Baby
Your Baby Enters the World
Nourishing Body & Bond
Mother & Teacher
Nurturing Development
A Mutual Gaze
From Bump to Bundle

Related Health Centers:

Infant Nutrition Health Center, Mother-Baby Bond Health Center, Mother’s Milk Health Center, Monthly Infant Development Calendar Health Center,Weekly Pregnancy Calendar Health Center