Bonding

With support from the Pediatrics Supporting Parents (PSP) funder collaborative, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) studied ways that pediatric primary care could promote positive outcomes around social and emotional development, the parent-child relationship, and parents’ mental health. This report synthesizes 3 categories of action and 14 common practices as well as recommendations for systemic reform.

Dr. Martha G. Welch, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, explains that emotional connection between two people is not a mental process alone. It involves “gut brain” signaling cues from the body up to the brain. We learn how to relate starting in the womb, as the mother’s and baby’s bodies influence and regulate each other. Dr. Welch shares research on the neurobiological basis behind relationship formation.

This strategic brief, produced by the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) in collaboration with the FrameWorks Institute, offers a comprehensive framing strategy for Early Relational Health (ERH). An expanded focus on early relationships within the child health sector provides a wide-scale opportunity to translate the science about relationships into new practices that can ultimately improve greater population and individual wellbeing.

This article in Acta Paediatrica by Martha G. Welch, MD, Director of the Nurture Science Program, explains Calming Cycle Theory. According to this theory, in utero baby and mother establish an emotional connection and visceral/autonomic co‐regulation. After birth, sensory stimulation (such as touch and scent exchange) and emotional communication (such as eye contact and speaking in the mother’s native language) lead to an autonomic response on sensory contact. The result is that mother and infant mutually calm and are attracted to one another.