Unveiling Infant Development Myths
摘要
TLDRThis presentation discusses the crucial role of the infant stage in child development, focusing on the biological and safety needs of infants aged 0-2. It highlights theories from Maslow, Erikson, and Bowlby, illustrating how early experiences shape schemas and influence later mental health. The speaker encourages parents to adopt mindful parenting strategies, recognize their infants' cues, and maintain consistent and nurturing environments to foster secure attachment and emotional well-being. The importance of addressing postpartum depression and its impact on parenting is also emphasized, along with practical resources for parents to understand their infants better.
心得
- 👶 Understanding infant development is crucial for later mental health.
- 🔑Meeting biological needs ensures healthy emotional growth.
- 😌 Secure attachment fosters trust in the caregiver.
- 🧠 Infants develop schemas to interpret their experiences.
- 🤱 Mindful parenting involves recognizing and responding to cues.
- ⚖️ Consistency in caregiving promotes security and self-efficacy.
- 🌿 Caregivers' mental health affects infant development.
- 🔄 Routines help infants develop trust and predictability.
- 📚 Resources can aid parents in understanding infant cues.
- 🙋♀️ The infant stage is foundational for future relationships.
时间轴
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
Introduction to the webinar series on child development, focusing on the significance of understanding the infant stage for clinicians who predominantly work with older children and adults. Discussion highlights how early experiences shape schemas that can impact adult behavior.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Exploration of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in the context of infants, emphasizing the importance of biological and safety needs as foundational for trust development.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Overview of Erikson's psychosocial development, where the infant stage is characterized by the challenge of trust versus mistrust, impacting later relationships and self-trust.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Introduction to attachment theory and its relevance for infants, discussing how secure and insecure attachments affect cognitive and emotional development.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Understanding how unmet needs in infancy can lead to maladaptive schemas and mental health issues in adulthood; the role of caregivers in meeting these needs is emphasized.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Discussion on infants' cognitive capabilities and how they process experiences through schemas, leading to either trust or mistrust based on caregiver response.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Highlighting the role of healthy attachment and consistent caregiver response in shaping infant behavior, with emphasis on the long-term psychological implications.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
Description of parenting styles and their impact on infants' emotional responses; the differentiation between secure and insecure attachment outcomes is discussed.
- 00:40:00 - 00:45:00
Insight into mindful parenting practices that support emotional regulation and consistency, promoting a secure environment for infants.
- 00:45:00 - 00:54:25
Closing thoughts addressed the need for clinicians to support parents in understanding infant needs and fostering secure attachment, with resources for further reading and learning.
思维导图
视频问答
Why is understanding infant development important for clinicians working with older children?
Understanding infant development helps clinicians address unhelpful schemas formed in infancy that affect adults' mental health and relationships.
What are the key developmental tasks for infants?
Key developmental tasks include meeting biological and safety needs, forming trust versus mistrust, and developing secure attachments.
How do caregiver behaviors impact infant development?
Consistent and responsive caregiving fosters trust and attachment, while neglect or stress can lead to insecurity and mental health issues.
What role do schemas play in an infant's cognitive development?
Schemas help infants categorize experiences, influencing how they interpret their needs and emotions as they grow.
How can parents be encouraged to identify their child's needs?
Parents should be mindful of their child's cues and learn to respond appropriately to prevent distress.
What is the importance of attachment in infant development?
Secure attachment leads to trust and well-being, while insecure attachment can cause anxiety and maladaptive behaviors.
What strategies can help parents support their infants?
Parents can utilize routines, validate their child's feelings, and maintain consistent responses to develop a secure attachment.
What is postpartum depression, and how does it affect parenting?
Postpartum depression can hinder a caregiver's ability to meet an infant's needs effectively, leading to attachment issues.
How do infant's biological needs influence their emotional development?
Biological needs, such as hunger and comfort, must be met for infants to develop trust and a healthy emotional foundation.
What resources can parents use to better understand infant cries?
Various websites and guides can help parents interpret different infant cries and respond to their needs appropriately.
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- 00:00:02[Music]
- 00:00:10this episode was pre-recorded as part of
- 00:00:13a live continuing education webinar on
- 00:00:15demand CEUs are still available for this
- 00:00:17presentation through all CEUs register
- 00:00:20at all CEUs comm slash counselor toolbox
- 00:00:36okay we're going to go ahead and get
- 00:00:37started
- 00:00:38I'd like to welcome everybody to today's
- 00:00:41presentation on child development 101
- 00:00:43the infant stage now you may be
- 00:00:46wondering you know most of us are
- 00:00:48clinicians who work with adolescents
- 00:00:51adults maybe some of y'all also work
- 00:00:53with children but why are we talking
- 00:00:55about the infant stage well for a couple
- 00:00:57of reasons if you've been to any of the
- 00:01:00other classes leading up to this we've
- 00:01:03talked a lot about how some of the
- 00:01:06schemas that are unhelpful to people in
- 00:01:09adulthood are often formed when they are
- 00:01:12much much younger in the resolution of
- 00:01:14some of their developmental crises so
- 00:01:17we're going to kind of talk about that
- 00:01:18and how we can a help parents help
- 00:01:23children successfully resolve these
- 00:01:25crises but also you know if you're
- 00:01:27dealing with an adult who developed an
- 00:01:30unhelpful schema back then that is well
- 00:01:34it probably was helpful back then but
- 00:01:36it's unhelpful now we can work on
- 00:01:39helping the adult figure out how to
- 00:01:41address that schema and figure out kind
- 00:01:43of where it's coming from and how to fix
- 00:01:45it the other reason is because a lot of
- 00:01:48us do deal with people who have small
- 00:01:51children at home infants toddlers middle
- 00:01:53schoolers and they're struggling with
- 00:01:57okay you know back in my day we used to
- 00:02:00handle things this way now I hear we're
- 00:02:02supposed to handle things this way my
- 00:02:04child is acting like this I don't know
- 00:02:06what to do so we want to help parents be
- 00:02:09able to feel empowered to provide the
- 00:02:12best
- 00:02:13growth experience if you will for their
- 00:02:16children as possible so which starts
- 00:02:19with the infant stage in this
- 00:02:22presentation we're going to explore the
- 00:02:24developmental tasks and needs of the
- 00:02:26infant stage and this is broad 0 to 2
- 00:02:29years old and obviously we don't
- 00:02:31generally talk about an 18-month old as
- 00:02:33an infant but when we're talking about
- 00:02:36cognitive development and some other
- 00:02:38things they they're still in that sort
- 00:02:41of same range so we're gonna kind of
- 00:02:43lump them all together today we're gonna
- 00:02:46look at Maslow's theory the biological
- 00:02:49and safety needs I refer to Maslow's
- 00:02:51pyramid a lot now little kids are not so
- 00:02:54much worried about self-esteem and self
- 00:02:56actualization an infant is worried about
- 00:02:59whether it's cold whether it's hot
- 00:03:01whether it's hungry
- 00:03:02whether it's belly hurts whether it's
- 00:03:05getting its biological and safety needs
- 00:03:07met those lower two levels on the Maslow
- 00:03:10pyramid Erikson proposed our levels of
- 00:03:14psychosocial development which for
- 00:03:16infants is trust versus mistrust and
- 00:03:19Belle should be going off in your head
- 00:03:21right now that a lot of the things that
- 00:03:24we work with our clients on have to do
- 00:03:27with them either not trusting other
- 00:03:29people or not trusting themselves they
- 00:03:31never learned to understand identify and
- 00:03:35interpret their own internal signals or
- 00:03:37maybe they did and they figured out that
- 00:03:41that wasn't safe back then or at another
- 00:03:43time
- 00:03:44so they've quit listening to their
- 00:03:47internal I call them spidey senses but
- 00:03:49say you know that's probably not the
- 00:03:51best idea then we'll talk a little bit
- 00:03:54more about Bowlby the only time we're
- 00:03:56really going to talk about Bowlby in
- 00:03:58this series is with infants because a
- 00:04:00lot of what we're talking about with
- 00:04:03infants is attachment and are they
- 00:04:04securely attached and securely attached
- 00:04:06or avoidant and we'll move on to Piaget
- 00:04:10for cognition and schema formation now
- 00:04:14you may think of these as four separate
- 00:04:16theories but they really kind of all
- 00:04:18lump in together because the child the
- 00:04:21infant has biological and safety needs
- 00:04:23that if they don't get met lead to
- 00:04:26feelings of
- 00:04:27mistrust and if they do lead to feelings
- 00:04:29of trust and this feeling of trust of
- 00:04:31other people that their caregiver is
- 00:04:33going to be there allows them to start
- 00:04:35learning how to form attachments with
- 00:04:37other people all of this input is
- 00:04:41categorized into schemas and you know
- 00:04:44yes infants have schemas they may not be
- 00:04:46able to articulate them because they're
- 00:04:48not verbally yet but you take an infant
- 00:04:50into a certain situation that has had a
- 00:04:53negative consequence before and you can
- 00:04:56see a definite reaction where the kids
- 00:04:58going I remember this this was not cool
- 00:05:01the last time and you can feel their
- 00:05:04anxiety going on so all of those really
- 00:05:07overlap and we need to consider not only
- 00:05:11what does the child need what does the
- 00:05:14child need to learn psycho socially but
- 00:05:17in what way do we need to present it so
- 00:05:20cognitively they can understand it in a
- 00:05:23way that's meaningful to them then we're
- 00:05:26going to discuss how failure to get
- 00:05:27these needs met can result in later
- 00:05:29mental health issues discuss how failure
- 00:05:31to resolve trust versus mistrust crisis
- 00:05:34may cause later mental health issues ie
- 00:05:37future patients and discuss how infants
- 00:05:39primitive cognitive abilities develop
- 00:05:42dysfunctional schemas for later in life
- 00:05:44when they're little they're thinking
- 00:05:46all-or-nothing and that works when
- 00:05:49you're an infant you know you're either
- 00:05:50cold or you're not you're not looking at
- 00:05:52the gray area like well I'm a little
- 00:05:54uncomfortable but I can tolerate it I
- 00:05:56don't really think infants think that
- 00:05:58way and that's fine for a small child
- 00:06:02once you start getting older and develop
- 00:06:05the cognitive abilities to look at
- 00:06:08alternate solutions look at the middle
- 00:06:11ground look at alternate explanations
- 00:06:15then it may be time to look at those
- 00:06:18prior schemas those younger schemas and
- 00:06:20go hmm maybe I need to adjust those a
- 00:06:25little bit and Piaget talked about
- 00:06:27assimilation and accommodation we're not
- 00:06:29going to go into that today
- 00:06:30but if you're interested in how schemas
- 00:06:32change over time you know just Google
- 00:06:35Piaget and assimilation and
- 00:06:38accommodation it's actually pretty
- 00:06:40interesting
- 00:06:41so fans lo what infants need biological
- 00:06:45needs when they're hungry they need food
- 00:06:47now I've worked with a lot of patients
- 00:06:49and one of the unit's I used to run was
- 00:06:52a pregnancy and postpartum unit and
- 00:06:55these women would come in hopefully
- 00:06:57ideally when they were still pregnant
- 00:07:00because they were above all they were
- 00:07:04dealing with some sort of drug addiction
- 00:07:07issue most of them also had concurrent
- 00:07:09mental health but anyhow so we get them
- 00:07:12in there and they have this child and
- 00:07:14the child cries and they're just like I
- 00:07:17don't know what to do with it it needs
- 00:07:19to stop I'm overwhelmed and a lot of
- 00:07:23times any cries were met with food it
- 00:07:26was just like pop something in the kids
- 00:07:27mouth to get it to shut up and so we
- 00:07:30want to help the child and the parent
- 00:07:33learn to identify when the child is
- 00:07:36hungry and provide food when the child
- 00:07:38is hungry and you know sometimes kids go
- 00:07:41through a growth spurt and they're
- 00:07:42hungry all the time I've got a teenager
- 00:07:44at home right now the child never stops
- 00:07:47eating but you know that is normal for
- 00:07:51his age and development and all that
- 00:07:53other stuff shelter and physical comfort
- 00:07:57if a child is too hot especially an
- 00:07:59infant they can't take off their coat
- 00:08:01they can't put on a coat they can't do
- 00:08:03something so they start to cry so it's
- 00:08:06up to us the adult to interpret their
- 00:08:09cues and we're going to talk in a few
- 00:08:10minutes about how to do that they need
- 00:08:13protection from over stimulation if
- 00:08:15you've been around infants you know that
- 00:08:18at a certain point I mean everything is
- 00:08:20new imagine going somewhere for the
- 00:08:22first time maybe you've never been
- 00:08:24overseas and you get out and you're
- 00:08:26walking through you know downtown London
- 00:08:29and you know you're just you're looking
- 00:08:33at everything and taking in everything
- 00:08:35and it's is exhausting by the end of the
- 00:08:37day because there was just so much to
- 00:08:38see and learn well infants that's how
- 00:08:41every day is even just around your house
- 00:08:44you know it looks different to them so
- 00:08:47if they can easily get overstimulated
- 00:08:49which can cause their bellies to get
- 00:08:51upset it can make it hard for them to
- 00:08:52sleep so what do they do
- 00:08:54they're over stimulated a lot of times
- 00:08:56they'll either go to sleep or they'll
- 00:08:59start to cry which takes us to sleep
- 00:09:01when sleepy we need to make sure we help
- 00:09:04them learn okay when you start feeling
- 00:09:06this way it's time to go to bed as
- 00:09:09children start to learn their own cues
- 00:09:12then when they get older and they can
- 00:09:14articulate their needs they'll have a
- 00:09:16better idea of okay you know I start
- 00:09:19feeling this way you know children pull
- 00:09:22their ears a lot and suck their thumb or
- 00:09:24do something else when they start to get
- 00:09:26sleepy most of us see these Universal
- 00:09:28signals and they're like somebody's
- 00:09:30ready for a nap and children need
- 00:09:33contact the lack of contact the lack of
- 00:09:38bonding can have some issues with for
- 00:09:43the child in terms of feeling comforted
- 00:09:46when there's contact between the child
- 00:09:48and a caregiver not necessarily be
- 00:09:51primary caregiver but a caregiver
- 00:09:53oxytocin is released they have their
- 00:09:55bonding chemicals kind of going and they
- 00:09:58feel comforted when there isn't isn't
- 00:10:01that contact when they have to
- 00:10:03self-soothe without that contact it can
- 00:10:05become very challenging for them which
- 00:10:07you know doesn't teach them that contact
- 00:10:12is good that doesn't teach them that
- 00:10:14other people are good and they're gonna
- 00:10:15help you calm down they need safety a
- 00:10:19consistent presence remembering that
- 00:10:22infants don't have object permanence if
- 00:10:25you walk out of their sight in their
- 00:10:26mind you're gone so when they cry if you
- 00:10:29come back they're like okay I got it
- 00:10:32and you walk out again and they cry and
- 00:10:34you come back and it's like they're like
- 00:10:36okay you're gonna come back
- 00:10:37I got it which is why you know we can
- 00:10:39put babies to bed and when they wake up
- 00:10:42in the middle of the night or in the
- 00:10:43morning we go in and we pick them up and
- 00:10:45we sue them and there's no big deal but
- 00:10:48imagine that same infant was put into a
- 00:10:52bed and you know mom or dad went out to
- 00:10:56the grocery store for two hours or all
- 00:10:58night or whatever and that child started
- 00:11:01to cry and cried and cried and nobody
- 00:11:04came well the child can't say well mom
- 00:11:07or dad will be back in the
- 00:11:08morning or you know they'll be be here
- 00:11:11eventually in that child's mind you know
- 00:11:15mom or dad left caregiver left and
- 00:11:18remember that for a child that spent
- 00:11:20alive for six months an hour is a really
- 00:11:24long percentage of their their life
- 00:11:27comparative to somebody who's like 45
- 00:11:30you know an hour flies by and a half a
- 00:11:33second they also need comfort from
- 00:11:37things that startle them loud noises and
- 00:11:40pain children have this basic instinct
- 00:11:43to self protect but they're not aware
- 00:11:46yet of what to protect against so the
- 00:11:48world's can be kind of scary which is
- 00:11:50why you know when something loud
- 00:11:53startles the child and the parent picks
- 00:11:55them up there's contact and the parent
- 00:11:57goes it's okay the child learns okay you
- 00:12:00know that thing was kind of unpleasant
- 00:12:03but it's not the end of the world
- 00:12:05and they start being able to form these
- 00:12:07little piles of really scary unpleasant
- 00:12:11but not so scary and no big deal at all
- 00:12:13like when the dog barks or the vacuum
- 00:12:16cleaner goes Erickson when a child when
- 00:12:22the infant is starting to develop this
- 00:12:24trust or mistrust the child is learning
- 00:12:26to develop a belief that or an
- 00:12:32association with whatever they're
- 00:12:34feeling and getting their needs met they
- 00:12:36can't say I'm hungry or if somebody
- 00:12:38gives them a bottle they can't
- 00:12:40necessarily say I'm not hungry but there
- 00:12:42will be times when the child refuses the
- 00:12:45bottle
- 00:12:46they're crying and you try to give them
- 00:12:47a bottle and they bat it away or they
- 00:12:49throw it down that's kind of them saying
- 00:12:52no that's not what I need right now
- 00:12:56a lot of parents get so frustrated but
- 00:12:59they don't know what the child needs so
- 00:13:02what we want is for the child to learn
- 00:13:04to interpret trust and act on their own
- 00:13:07feelings so we don't try to keep shoving
- 00:13:09that bottle in their mouths we say okay
- 00:13:10you're not hungry what else is going on
- 00:13:13let's check your diaper let's see if
- 00:13:14you're warm enough let go through the
- 00:13:16checklist and as parents we start to
- 00:13:20learn what our children need
- 00:13:22and can generally guess within two or
- 00:13:25three tries what's going on with them we
- 00:13:29want them to believe that others will
- 00:13:31help fulfill their needs this gives them
- 00:13:33hope this gives them a trust in other
- 00:13:35people that you know when I'm
- 00:13:37uncomfortable that caregiver comes and
- 00:13:41you know helps me out here and they may
- 00:13:45not really understand the cause and
- 00:13:47effect but they know when caregiver
- 00:13:48shows up whatever is bothering them
- 00:13:51seems to go away and they feel better
- 00:13:52they start to develop self-reliance
- 00:13:56obviously this is when they're getting a
- 00:13:58little bit older but they start to
- 00:14:00develop the ability to you know knock
- 00:14:03away the bottling that that's not what I
- 00:14:05need or you know crawl up in somebody's
- 00:14:09lap in order to get comfort or grab a
- 00:14:12blanket and cover themself up with it
- 00:14:15they start to be comfortable with
- 00:14:17attention because they're used to it and
- 00:14:19they know that generally you know we're
- 00:14:21hoping that it's always positive
- 00:14:23you know appropriate attention but
- 00:14:26attention is comforting and when they
- 00:14:29get attention they it may be somebody
- 00:14:32playing with them which is happy it may
- 00:14:35be somebody holding them or rocking them
- 00:14:37to sleep which is comforting so any kind
- 00:14:41of attention right now is positive they
- 00:14:44also develop this ability to be alone
- 00:14:46like I said you know we may not get to
- 00:14:49the crib within 15 seconds of when the
- 00:14:52infant starts to cry most of us you know
- 00:14:55just don't and sometimes it's not really
- 00:14:58what you need to do you know sometimes
- 00:15:00you need to finish getting out of the
- 00:15:02shower first you speed it up but you
- 00:15:06don't necessarily just jump out dripping
- 00:15:09wet and run into their room and it's
- 00:15:10okay
- 00:15:11giving them the ability to learn that
- 00:15:15mommy or daddy will show up but in time
- 00:15:18that is reasonable to that child like I
- 00:15:22said before to an infant an hour is a
- 00:15:24really long time when we start talking
- 00:15:27about toddlers and we talked about
- 00:15:28timeout generally timeout is the same
- 00:15:31proportion level at in minutes as
- 00:15:36years of age so if they're three years
- 00:15:39old timeout is three minutes if they're
- 00:15:41two years old timeout is two minutes two
- 00:15:43minutes timeout is really a long time
- 00:15:46for a two-year-old so putting that into
- 00:15:49perspective for an infant you know how
- 00:15:52long do we let them cry before we
- 00:15:54reassure them before we provide some
- 00:15:57sort of comfort and I know there are
- 00:15:59certain issues when we come into trying
- 00:16:03to help the infant learn to sleep at
- 00:16:04night and how long do you let them cry
- 00:16:06and you know ideally you've developed a
- 00:16:09good solid level of trust with the
- 00:16:14infant before you're trying to get them
- 00:16:17to go to sleep alone by themselves all
- 00:16:19night long so it's a matter of judging
- 00:16:23it based on the individual infant's
- 00:16:25needs and and trying to help them learn
- 00:16:29how to be self-reliant and
- 00:16:31self-sufficient but also be reassured
- 00:16:33that you're going to be there if they
- 00:16:36don't meet this trust mistrust then they
- 00:16:39develop mistrust of their own instincts
- 00:16:42urges and feelings they think you know
- 00:16:45well I'm safe I'm with my caregiver but
- 00:16:48maybe not because you know I remember
- 00:16:50that one time that she didn't show up
- 00:16:52for hours they really develop a reliance
- 00:16:57on others to tell them what they need
- 00:16:58because the infant has so many times you
- 00:17:02know maybe wanted to go to sleep or
- 00:17:04wanted to be held and instead they got a
- 00:17:05bottle or they got you know changed it's
- 00:17:09something that didn't meet their needs
- 00:17:11they start going okay well maybe that is
- 00:17:14what I needed cuz I'm not getting these
- 00:17:17other needs met and eventually those
- 00:17:19other needs tend to usually fall to the
- 00:17:22background inability to trust others
- 00:17:25will be supportive if the child needs
- 00:17:28something and the needs are not met then
- 00:17:31it's a scary world discomfort and
- 00:17:35craving of attention at the same time so
- 00:17:37these children if they had any
- 00:17:40experiences at all may have been wrought
- 00:17:43with stress and anxiety and just
- 00:17:45discontent so it wasn't a positive
- 00:17:47experience
- 00:17:49so they couldn't trust that when their
- 00:17:51caregiver picked them up everything was
- 00:17:53going to be okay you know sometimes it
- 00:17:55was really really stressful infants are
- 00:17:58very perceptive children are very
- 00:18:00perceptive so if mom or dad is having a
- 00:18:04difficult time calming down dealing with
- 00:18:07their own stress the child is likely
- 00:18:10going to pick up on this so it may be
- 00:18:13uncomfortable to be held by mom or dad
- 00:18:15or caregiver but at the same time they
- 00:18:18have this natural craving for attention
- 00:18:20which is really confusing they're like I
- 00:18:22really want a good hug but I am really
- 00:18:25afraid of every human being you know
- 00:18:28kind of scary
- 00:18:30which produces irritability and anxiety
- 00:18:33because they don't know how to
- 00:18:34self-soothe most toddlers and middle
- 00:18:37school children have difficulty
- 00:18:39self-soothing of course an infant isn't
- 00:18:41going to know how to self-soothe very
- 00:18:43well most of them rely on on the sucking
- 00:18:49mechanism to help them calm down a
- 00:18:51little bit which is why bottles often
- 00:18:53work even if that's not what the child
- 00:18:55needed but it's also why children will
- 00:18:58like pop in a pacifier or suck on their
- 00:19:00thumb you know even if you're trying to
- 00:19:01get them not to do it they're gonna find
- 00:19:03something to suck on because that is one
- 00:19:05of their self soothing mechanisms at
- 00:19:08that age we're gonna get to the
- 00:19:11solutions in a minute cognitive
- 00:19:13development in this sensorimotor period
- 00:19:15children don't have object permanence
- 00:19:18and they don't have much of a frame of
- 00:19:20reference so they rely on parental
- 00:19:22feedback they go into a new situation
- 00:19:26like I said if thunderclaps
- 00:19:28you know sometimes thunder can be really
- 00:19:29loud and if the parent freaks out then
- 00:19:33the child is gonna go oh okay stress
- 00:19:36alarms system if the chief the parent
- 00:19:39you know kind of throws open the
- 00:19:41curtains and says oh it's a thunderstorm
- 00:19:42I love watching thunderstorms then the
- 00:19:45child is going to get a much different
- 00:19:47vibe if you will they don't understand
- 00:19:49the words but they understand for lack
- 00:19:52of a better term the vibes that are
- 00:19:54being put off by the parent schemas
- 00:19:57formed during this time rely heavily on
- 00:20:00were there needs adequate
- 00:20:02if so they'll feel empowered when I have
- 00:20:05this need a caregiver will meet it or I
- 00:20:08can meet it somehow if the needs weren't
- 00:20:10met then they start to feel powerless
- 00:20:12and dependent because they don't know
- 00:20:15how to self-soothe and it also relies on
- 00:20:19parental reaction so if the parent is
- 00:20:21always freaking out about something then
- 00:20:24the child is going to perceive the world
- 00:20:27as pretty scary and stressful because
- 00:20:30you know mom's always on you know hyper
- 00:20:34alert so it must be a pretty scary place
- 00:20:37if the parents are attentive to the
- 00:20:41child then their schemas around parental
- 00:20:45responsiveness and other people being
- 00:20:47there will be very different than if the
- 00:20:49parent is emotionally or physically
- 00:20:52unavailable for one reason or another
- 00:20:54and consistency with children it is
- 00:20:59really important to be consistent if it
- 00:21:02is you know scary one time and you want
- 00:21:07the child to be conscious of it or
- 00:21:10cognizant of it like cars going down the
- 00:21:12road really fast then you want to
- 00:21:14consistently you know admonish the child
- 00:21:17to be concerned about that but if it's
- 00:21:21something that is not to be worried
- 00:21:25about like at our house when I turn on
- 00:21:27the vacuum cleaner my kids are much
- 00:21:29older now but for the dogs
- 00:21:31whenever I'm getting ready to turn on
- 00:21:33the vacuum cleaner I announced loud
- 00:21:35noise and a lot of that comes from when
- 00:21:37I had children that were very very young
- 00:21:39and that would tell them okay there's
- 00:21:42going to be a loud noise but it's okay
- 00:21:44and then I do my vacuuming but that dogs
- 00:21:48have kind of gotten conditioned that way
- 00:21:49too because now if I don't tell them
- 00:21:51ahead of time they bark and try to eat
- 00:21:53the vacuum cleaner
- 00:21:54Bobi so we take all this and say okay
- 00:21:58how does this affect children's ability
- 00:22:00to form attachments with other people
- 00:22:02because ultimately when we get into
- 00:22:05later life a lot of the things that
- 00:22:07people are presenting for in counseling
- 00:22:09and they're depressed about and they're
- 00:22:11stressed out about have to do with the
- 00:22:13ability to self-soothe their
- 00:22:15self-efficacy
- 00:22:16and their ability to form successful
- 00:22:20attachments with others so securely
- 00:22:23attached infants are easily soothed by
- 00:22:25the attachment figure when upset and the
- 00:22:28caregiver is sensitive to their signals
- 00:22:29and responds appropriately to their
- 00:22:31needs so this is the storybook parent
- 00:22:33knot I don't think there's any parent
- 00:22:36I'm not gonna say none but I don't think
- 00:22:38there are many if there are any that
- 00:22:41respond to a child signals every single
- 00:22:44time and there are a hundred percent
- 00:22:46correct every single time that's the
- 00:22:48nice thing about kids they give us a
- 00:22:50little bit of wiggle room we try to be
- 00:22:52consistent we try to be there for them
- 00:22:53but we don't have to get it right the
- 00:22:56first time every single time for them to
- 00:22:59develop normally
- 00:23:01so that's the ideal situation but in the
- 00:23:04case of parents with anxiety or
- 00:23:07depression they may be so emotionally
- 00:23:10distraught that they can't focus they
- 00:23:13can't interpret what's going on with
- 00:23:15their child also they're putting off all
- 00:23:18of those stress vibes and that anxiety
- 00:23:20and or depressive vibes and the child is
- 00:23:24not able to interpret those it's not
- 00:23:26comforting they know that but they don't
- 00:23:28really know what it is so the child is
- 00:23:32not probably getting their needs met and
- 00:23:35they're not learning to identify their
- 00:23:37own needs because you know they don't
- 00:23:40know what they are if the parent has an
- 00:23:43addiction again we're looking at someone
- 00:23:46who is just doing what they can to
- 00:23:50survive right now which means when
- 00:23:52they're not using and this can be
- 00:23:55behavioral or chemical they are in a lot
- 00:23:58of pain mental emotional physical
- 00:24:01they're in a lot of pain which makes it
- 00:24:03a lot harder to be attentive and eagerly
- 00:24:07responsive to a child's needs especially
- 00:24:10an infant and then there are parents
- 00:24:13with skill deficits there are some
- 00:24:15parents that are not addicts they're not
- 00:24:18particularly depressed or anxious but
- 00:24:22they they're either too young they're
- 00:24:24very very young and they don't know how
- 00:24:26to be a grown-up let alone be a parent
- 00:24:28or they came up from a family where the
- 00:24:32parenting skills left a little bit to be
- 00:24:35desired so they don't know how to be an
- 00:24:37attentive parent an example of this on
- 00:24:41that unit I had several parents that you
- 00:24:46know they gave birth to their children
- 00:24:47and you know it was great and they came
- 00:24:49back to the unit and their idea of how
- 00:24:55you were supposed to deal with an infant
- 00:24:57was to get it up in the morning feed it
- 00:25:00put it in one of the little swings in
- 00:25:02front of the TV and pretty much not
- 00:25:05touch it again until it started to
- 00:25:07scream for something change it feed it
- 00:25:09and put it back there or put it to bed
- 00:25:12there was no interaction for the first
- 00:25:16month after I took over the unit I never
- 00:25:18once saw a parent put a blanket down on
- 00:25:22the floor and try to play with their
- 00:25:23child or interact in any way or hold
- 00:25:26them while they watch TV even if the
- 00:25:29parent was sitting on the sofa watching
- 00:25:30TV the child was still in a swing so we
- 00:25:34want to look at what effect does that
- 00:25:35have on the child and the child's
- 00:25:37ability to bond and communicate needs
- 00:25:39and the parents ability to be in tune
- 00:25:42with the child so it's not that the
- 00:25:45parent was trying to be a bad parent but
- 00:25:47that's what their parent did and their
- 00:25:51parents parent did so they didn't have
- 00:25:53the ability or the skills to know that
- 00:25:56there was something else that might be
- 00:25:58needed so we had lots of discussions
- 00:26:02about why it was important for the child
- 00:26:05to be able to actually get down on the
- 00:26:06floor and play and why it was important
- 00:26:10for the parent to hold the child
- 00:26:12periodically and interact in certain
- 00:26:17ways during this stage of development so
- 00:26:20if these things don't happen then you
- 00:26:24may develop an insecure or avoid an
- 00:26:26infant this child is very independent of
- 00:26:29the attachment figure both physically
- 00:26:31and emotionally
- 00:26:32you know as they start to grow up you'll
- 00:26:34see that they they'll go off and get
- 00:26:36their own drink they will they're pretty
- 00:26:38self-sufficient because they've learned
- 00:26:39that they can't count
- 00:26:41on their caregiver to be responsive so
- 00:26:45if they want something they got to get
- 00:26:47it themselves they often don't seek
- 00:26:50contact with the attachment figure when
- 00:26:52they're distressed because in the past
- 00:26:54if they have they either didn't get
- 00:26:55their needs met or worse yet they were
- 00:26:58punished and the parent was like go away
- 00:27:00I can't deal with you or the child was
- 00:27:02needy the parent couldn't deal with it
- 00:27:04so they took the child put them in a
- 00:27:06crib or in a swing which I kind of
- 00:27:09called baby jail in order to just put
- 00:27:12them somewhere because they couldn't
- 00:27:13deal with it at that point these
- 00:27:17caregivers are insensitive and rejecting
- 00:27:19of the child's needs and are often
- 00:27:21available during times of emotional
- 00:27:23distress now I want to emphasize for the
- 00:27:26most part and you know there's probably
- 00:27:29some exceptions out there again but for
- 00:27:31the most part these parents do not do
- 00:27:32this intentionally to be mean to the
- 00:27:34child they are doing the best they can
- 00:27:37to just survive as they are at that
- 00:27:40point in time whether it's because of
- 00:27:42mental health issues addiction issues or
- 00:27:45just skill deficits and not knowing what
- 00:27:47to do with this little life before them
- 00:27:50they are completely overwhelmed so a lot
- 00:27:54of times they are doing the best they
- 00:27:57can so I don't ever want to come off to
- 00:28:00a parent like I'm saying well you're
- 00:28:02just ignoring the child we want to look
- 00:28:04at why is this important and what can
- 00:28:07you do to help the child and if it feels
- 00:28:10overwhelming let's talk about how we can
- 00:28:14help it feel less overwhelming to you
- 00:28:15because it sounds like you know you're
- 00:28:18struggling right now
- 00:28:19parents with mothers with postpartum
- 00:28:21depression are very I don't know what
- 00:28:28the word is can have this problem
- 00:28:30because the postpartum depression kicks
- 00:28:32in and not only do they have all the
- 00:28:34depression symptoms but then there's the
- 00:28:36guilt that goes along with it because
- 00:28:38they're like you know I had this have
- 00:28:40this little child and I love this little
- 00:28:41child but I don't want anything to do
- 00:28:43with this little child because I'm just
- 00:28:44so overwhelmed and I need to sleep and
- 00:28:46so as clinicians we need to help them
- 00:28:49identify that they're doing the best
- 00:28:52that they can at this point in time
- 00:28:54figure out how to
- 00:28:55mom so she can have the energy and the
- 00:29:01ability to focus and all of the neuro
- 00:29:03chemicals needed to be happy and content
- 00:29:07and attentive to the child insecure and
- 00:29:12ambivalent children exhibit clingy and
- 00:29:15dependent behavior but are rejecting of
- 00:29:17the attachment figure when they engage
- 00:29:19in interaction a lot of times these
- 00:29:21insecure ambivalent children have
- 00:29:23parents that tend to be more anxious and
- 00:29:26so they feel very very anxious all the
- 00:29:29time they cling to the parent they cling
- 00:29:31to the caregiver because they're hoping
- 00:29:33for protection but then when the
- 00:29:36caregiver wants to engage with them the
- 00:29:38caregiver is often so distraught with
- 00:29:40their own stuff that it's it's
- 00:29:44overpowering to the child and the
- 00:29:45child's like no yeah never mind never
- 00:29:47mind I got it the child fails to develop
- 00:29:51any feelings of security from the
- 00:29:52attachment figure because there's so
- 00:29:53much anxiety or the person is so
- 00:29:56unpredictably available as in the case
- 00:29:59of addiction they exhibit difficulty
- 00:30:02moving away from the attachment figure
- 00:30:04to explore novel surroundings the world
- 00:30:06is a really scary place to this child
- 00:30:08because they perceive so much palpable
- 00:30:11anxiety and angst all the time that it
- 00:30:15seems like it's just devastating out
- 00:30:17there if kind of put yourself in the
- 00:30:20infant's position if your caregiver the
- 00:30:23one who is supposed to tell you it's
- 00:30:24okay always seem to feel like the world
- 00:30:28was getting ready to crumble it would be
- 00:30:31pretty scary especially if you didn't
- 00:30:33have the tools to do anything about it
- 00:30:35yourself when distressed they're
- 00:30:38difficult to soothe and are not
- 00:30:39comforted by interaction with the
- 00:30:41attachment figure a lot of times again
- 00:30:44this is because the attachment figure is
- 00:30:47so overwhelmed with their own stuff that
- 00:30:50they're not getting that soothing
- 00:30:52they're not getting the oxytocin release
- 00:30:54they're not getting the soothing calming
- 00:30:56sensation when you hold a child and
- 00:31:00you're stressed the child picks up on it
- 00:31:02if you're stressed the child tends to
- 00:31:04cry louder my son had colic really bad
- 00:31:07when he was little
- 00:31:09and we would take turns when I would
- 00:31:10start to feel myself getting frustrated
- 00:31:12I would hand him off to his father and
- 00:31:15I'd be like your turn
- 00:31:17can't do it anymore and we were able to
- 00:31:19calm him down a lot easier that way than
- 00:31:21if one of us would have just kind of
- 00:31:23tried to push through even when we were
- 00:31:25like oh my gosh it's been three hours
- 00:31:27and this child still hasn't stopped
- 00:31:29crying so it's important to understand
- 00:31:33what impact you're having you the parent
- 00:31:36caregiver are having and what
- 00:31:38alternatives are out there if you can't
- 00:31:41calm yourself down right now what else
- 00:31:43can you do to help that child calm down
- 00:31:46maybe you need to call in a different
- 00:31:48caregiver grandma auntie you know big
- 00:31:52sister somebody to help you out behavior
- 00:31:56results from an inconsistent level of
- 00:31:58response to their needs from the primary
- 00:32:00caregiver again most of the time it's
- 00:32:03not because the caregiver is trying to
- 00:32:05be malicious it's because the caregiver
- 00:32:07is struggling to either be a parent or
- 00:32:11to survive themselves right now so as
- 00:32:14clinicians we can really work with their
- 00:32:15caregiver at this point so mindful
- 00:32:19parenting how do we deal with this be
- 00:32:21attentive to the baby's cries and cues
- 00:32:23before they become hysterical if you
- 00:32:26google primary baby cries depending on
- 00:32:29which site you go to there's five or six
- 00:32:31different cries but you've got to get to
- 00:32:35it before the child becomes hysterical
- 00:32:37the beginnings of the distress sound
- 00:32:40different and you can identify hungry
- 00:32:43just uncomfortable you know a variety of
- 00:32:47things once they get hysterical it
- 00:32:49pretty much sounds the same they are
- 00:32:50unhappy and it needs to stop right now
- 00:32:55except babies needs as they are create a
- 00:33:00validating environment kind of throwing
- 00:33:01ourselves back to Marsha Linehan and DBT
- 00:33:04some infants are more emotional more
- 00:33:08reactive need more soothing than other
- 00:33:11infants so we need to pay attention to
- 00:33:13what is junior need you know Junior
- 00:33:16one of my children was very independent
- 00:33:21you know I could sit there
- 00:33:23and read a book in the same room and he
- 00:33:25would sit there and play and you know
- 00:33:27we'd play together sometimes and then
- 00:33:29he'd kind of go off on his little own
- 00:33:31little world and play and he was
- 00:33:32perfectly happy with that my daughter on
- 00:33:35the other hand required a lot more
- 00:33:37interaction and attention from both her
- 00:33:40father and I so creating an environment
- 00:33:44that's validating to that child
- 00:33:46but being understanding that each child
- 00:33:48is different so just because a child
- 00:33:51doesn't crave constant attention doesn't
- 00:33:54necessarily mean there's anything wrong
- 00:33:55with your relationship be consistent
- 00:33:59when you're parenting the child and this
- 00:34:01goes with what you're allowed to do with
- 00:34:03what you're not allowed to do and
- 00:34:05routines and we're gonna get to that in
- 00:34:07a minute
- 00:34:08um yeah my son well when children go to
- 00:34:13different environments they want to make
- 00:34:16sure that the rules are still the same
- 00:34:17children love structure because then
- 00:34:19they know what they can and can't do and
- 00:34:21when went to my grandmother's house and
- 00:34:23you know he knew he wasn't supposed to
- 00:34:25touch the TV but you know it was
- 00:34:28different he'd never been there before
- 00:34:29so he walks up to the TV he was about 18
- 00:34:32months old and he looks at the TV and he
- 00:34:34goes no touch I said you're right no
- 00:34:37touch looks at me he looks at the TV
- 00:34:40touches it looks at me he says timeout I
- 00:34:43said yep timeout so he walked back into
- 00:34:47the back hallway and kind of sat against
- 00:34:48the wall for a second and you know when
- 00:34:52the two minutes was over I went over and
- 00:34:53talked to him you know it was just fine
- 00:34:55he just wanted to make sure the same
- 00:34:57rules applied and their little
- 00:34:59scientists that way but we need to be
- 00:35:01consistent and let them know that the
- 00:35:04rules still apply and we will still
- 00:35:07enforce them because sometimes kids will
- 00:35:08act out just to get our attention if
- 00:35:11they feel like they need that comfort
- 00:35:13they feel like they need that attention
- 00:35:15sometimes negative attention is better
- 00:35:17than no attention so help the child
- 00:35:21learn how to calm themselves be
- 00:35:23consistent with your rules
- 00:35:26calm yourself a stressed parent produces
- 00:35:29a stress baby a calm parent produces a
- 00:35:33comma bull baby babies aren't going to
- 00:35:35be calm all that
- 00:35:36but if you as the parent have you're
- 00:35:38mindful of where you are and can calm
- 00:35:41yourself down and go okay this is gonna
- 00:35:44be struggle but we can get through it
- 00:35:46the baby will be able to be calmed down
- 00:35:48a lot easier than if you start getting
- 00:35:50all upset because you can't figure out
- 00:35:52what's wrong with the child and you
- 00:35:53really want to make it stop and you
- 00:35:55start getting stressed out and then
- 00:35:57beating yourself up saying I stink as a
- 00:35:59parent and that it you know where these
- 00:36:01thoughts go so encourage parents to try
- 00:36:07to be conscious of where they are stay
- 00:36:10as calm as possible keep a routine to
- 00:36:13help set babies circadian rhythms for
- 00:36:14feeding and sleeping it'll be easier for
- 00:36:17you to know when they're hungry it'll be
- 00:36:19easier to know when they're sleepy so
- 00:36:21you can kind of arrange your schedule
- 00:36:22around them because lucky little them
- 00:36:25they get to sleep all the time but you
- 00:36:27also know what your child needs so you
- 00:36:30can identify when your child's rhythms
- 00:36:33may be off which can help you predict
- 00:36:36when they might be more irritable
- 00:36:38getting ready to get sick all of those
- 00:36:40things view the world from the baby's
- 00:36:43eyes if you can't understand what's
- 00:36:46going on or if the baby just seems to be
- 00:36:49overwhelmed and colicky and stuff all
- 00:36:51the time and this came from my son's
- 00:36:54occupational therapist he was the
- 00:36:56preemie and he would get over stimulated
- 00:36:59a lot and she's like view the world from
- 00:37:01his eyes lay down on your belly and
- 00:37:03start looking around and look at
- 00:37:05everything like you'd never seen it
- 00:37:07before and I'm like yeah there's a lot
- 00:37:09of stuff in here and cobwebs and um and
- 00:37:13she's like yeah that's that's my point
- 00:37:15there is so much to take in and you know
- 00:37:18sometimes he needs a break so we worked
- 00:37:22out a situation where one of his walls
- 00:37:25in his in his bedroom was plain white
- 00:37:27and when he would start to get
- 00:37:30overstimulated we would go in there and
- 00:37:32you know sit down and he could look at
- 00:37:34the white wall if that's what he needed
- 00:37:36to do or but he could escape from the
- 00:37:40stimulation it wasn't quite as busy and
- 00:37:42with the cats and the dogs and the
- 00:37:44sister and the listen on that if this
- 00:37:48doesn't happen when the trial
- 00:37:50is an infant which sometimes it doesn't
- 00:37:52okay that's fine that doesn't mean the
- 00:37:55person is irreparably damaged we can
- 00:37:59repair it ourselves we need to learn to
- 00:38:01be attentive to our emotional and
- 00:38:03physical cues before we become over or
- 00:38:06underwhelmed what do I mean by that well
- 00:38:09mindfulness when you get the first sense
- 00:38:12that you're feeling sick tired angry
- 00:38:15stressed address it figure out what's
- 00:38:19causing it and take some action but if
- 00:38:22you're feeling bored or sad or something
- 00:38:25else then you can also do something to
- 00:38:27kind of amp up what's going on so you
- 00:38:30can feel happy be mindful in your
- 00:38:33approach to self response to learn to
- 00:38:35trust your feelings intuitions and urges
- 00:38:37so identify how you feel and when I say
- 00:38:41feel I mean I want to know what your
- 00:38:43emotion is what your physical sensations
- 00:38:46are what your urges are identify what's
- 00:38:50causing those feelings right now you
- 00:38:52know yeah there's probably schemas and
- 00:38:54stuff from the past that's not what
- 00:38:57we're dealing with when we're being
- 00:38:59mindful right now we're saying what is
- 00:39:00causing these feelings in the moment um
- 00:39:03then we want to address the issue so if
- 00:39:06you're stressed because you've got a
- 00:39:07meeting coming up or you're hungry or
- 00:39:10whatever it is address the issue and
- 00:39:12then evaluate the outcome if someone
- 00:39:16hasn't paid attention to their own cues
- 00:39:18for thirty years they're not always
- 00:39:21gonna guess right just like the parent
- 00:39:23doesn't always guess right they're not
- 00:39:25always gonna guess right you know maybe
- 00:39:27they think they're hungry and then they
- 00:39:28go in and they eat and they're like you
- 00:39:30know I don't feel any better
- 00:39:31maybe I wasn't hungry after all that's
- 00:39:34okay interestingly hunger sleep and
- 00:39:38anger are very very similar in their
- 00:39:43biochemical nature as far as producing
- 00:39:45cues in our brain so is actually hard
- 00:39:48for not that we're rats but it is hard
- 00:39:50for rats to differentiate between the
- 00:39:52three of those people actually done
- 00:39:55studies believe it or not so we want to
- 00:39:58help people give themselves a break if
- 00:40:00you go you think you're hungry you go
- 00:40:02eat you don't feel any better
- 00:40:03then you need to evaluate and go okay
- 00:40:05well that wasn't it what does this
- 00:40:08feeling mean for me right now and
- 00:40:10reevaluate and take steps again they
- 00:40:14need to learn self soothing skills so
- 00:40:16when you're feeling stressed out or when
- 00:40:18you start to feel stressed out what
- 00:40:20makes you the individual feel better and
- 00:40:23helping them learn that just because
- 00:40:27Sally in the next cubicle over isn't
- 00:40:30stressed out about this meeting doesn't
- 00:40:32mean that you shouldn't be you are what
- 00:40:35you are it's a matter of identifying how
- 00:40:37you feel accepting it and figuring out
- 00:40:40what to do about it encourage them to
- 00:40:43identify supportive others if people in
- 00:40:45their past have not been consistent have
- 00:40:49not been predictable have not been
- 00:40:50secure attachments then we need to look
- 00:40:53at what would it look like to have a
- 00:40:56secure attachment what would it look
- 00:40:58like to be able to actually trust
- 00:40:59someone and how do you do that we want
- 00:41:05to help them identify those things or
- 00:41:06situations they perceive as anxiety
- 00:41:08provoking and evaluate them through an
- 00:41:11adult lens what was anxiety provoking
- 00:41:14when they were little you know you know
- 00:41:17mom walked out of the room obviously at
- 00:41:2040 is not going to be as anxiety
- 00:41:23provoking because you have object
- 00:41:26permanence and you know mom's gonna come
- 00:41:27back now whether you want mom to come
- 00:41:29back or not you know those are other
- 00:41:31issues that may need to be dealt with
- 00:41:33but the child needs to say what am i
- 00:41:36afraid of in this situation what is
- 00:41:39causing my anxiety right now you know
- 00:41:41maybe I was had difficulty when I was
- 00:41:45younger trusting other people why am I
- 00:41:49afraid to trust other people right now
- 00:41:51what is the probability that something
- 00:41:54bad will happen there's probable and
- 00:41:57improbable any most anything's possible
- 00:41:59but what is probable how have I or
- 00:42:04others successfully handled things like
- 00:42:06this before so if they're getting ready
- 00:42:08to do something anxiety provoking they
- 00:42:12can say how have I handled something
- 00:42:13like this before successfully and if I
- 00:42:15haven't
- 00:42:17who do I know who has and what did they
- 00:42:18do because we can learn from others
- 00:42:22encourage the person to keep a routine
- 00:42:24to set their circadian rhythms for
- 00:42:26feeding and sleeping it's easier to know
- 00:42:30when you're hungry if your body knows
- 00:42:32when it's hungry if your circadian
- 00:42:34rhythms are you know pretty consistent
- 00:42:36when we're not getting enough sleep our
- 00:42:39body doesn't have time to repair our
- 00:42:40brain doesn't have time to rebalance and
- 00:42:43a lot of people just don't do well on
- 00:42:45insufficient sleep so we want to
- 00:42:47encourage people to pay attention to
- 00:42:50their sleeping because that's one of
- 00:42:52your biggest vulnerabilities to anxiety
- 00:42:57depression and anger kind of going
- 00:43:00haywire when you're when you're
- 00:43:03exhausted because when you're exhausted
- 00:43:05everything seems to take so much more
- 00:43:08effort so infants have very little frame
- 00:43:13of reference and absolutely no object
- 00:43:15permanence we want to remember this so
- 00:43:17like I said a vacuum cleaner
- 00:43:19I don't think twice about a vacuum
- 00:43:21cleaner because you know I run one every
- 00:43:23day but for an infant it can be very
- 00:43:26startling um my son when he was first
- 00:43:30born he spent five weeks in the NICU and
- 00:43:32interestingly when he came home it was
- 00:43:35more disturbing to him to have a quiet
- 00:43:38environment he was much more Restless
- 00:43:41when there was no noise in the house as
- 00:43:43opposed to when people were going about
- 00:43:45their normal daily activities because he
- 00:43:47had gotten so used to all the beeping
- 00:43:49and buzzing and intercom calls and
- 00:43:52everything else in the NICU for those
- 00:43:53five weeks so pay attention to the
- 00:43:56infant's frame of reference but remember
- 00:43:59that you know they can learn that this
- 00:44:01is a safe environment but it may take
- 00:44:03some time and they may need to be
- 00:44:05reassured same thing with an adult if
- 00:44:09you've never trusted your own intuition
- 00:44:12never trusted your own instincts before
- 00:44:15you can learn what's scary and what's
- 00:44:18not and what's you know the right thing
- 00:44:22for you to do and what's going to work
- 00:44:24against your personal goals and you can
- 00:44:28learn to trust those but it takes time
- 00:44:30because if you haven't developed those
- 00:44:32skills of self-efficacy over the
- 00:44:36developmental process you know it's not
- 00:44:38a switch you can just turn on and go
- 00:44:39okay I got this I don't need anybody
- 00:44:41else's help every experience is filed as
- 00:44:46an initial schema so think of it in
- 00:44:48terms of you know you get a new computer
- 00:44:51and you start out and you know I usually
- 00:44:54start out really well or the beginning
- 00:44:56of a semester and I had a notebook for
- 00:44:59every single class and I would file my
- 00:45:05syllabus in each one of them and I and
- 00:45:09as the semester would go on I would
- 00:45:11start filing filing more detailed notes
- 00:45:13as I started learning more about that
- 00:45:15particular topic that's what our schemas
- 00:45:18are but as an infant basically the
- 00:45:21infant period they're just getting their
- 00:45:22binders together they don't even have
- 00:45:24the syllabus yet they're just getting
- 00:45:25their binders going okay basic needs
- 00:45:28safety I don't know what else comes
- 00:45:31after that infants are learning how to
- 00:45:35get their basic biological and safety
- 00:45:37needs met they can't say I'm hungry but
- 00:45:40eventually they learn that when they
- 00:45:42feel a certain way and caregiver
- 00:45:45provides a bottle or food or whatever
- 00:45:47they feel better so they start to
- 00:45:50associate some sort of oral activity
- 00:45:53with this feeling that they will later
- 00:45:56end up labeling hunger they start to do
- 00:46:00the same thing with sleepy when they
- 00:46:02start pulling their ear and the
- 00:46:03caregiver goes all you're sleeping let's
- 00:46:05see you know it's about nap time they
- 00:46:08hear this they don't understand our
- 00:46:10language right away but they do
- 00:46:12understand that when they start pulling
- 00:46:13their ear and their caregiver puts them
- 00:46:16to bed and then they feel better it's
- 00:46:19it's miraculous as they get older
- 00:46:22they'll start making the connections
- 00:46:24between ok this means I'm sleepy when
- 00:46:26I'm sleepy I need to go sleep failure of
- 00:46:31the caregiver to consistently respond
- 00:46:33may cause the child to not trust
- 00:46:35themselves not trust their intuition
- 00:46:37about who's safe who's not what they
- 00:46:40need what they don't need they may
- 00:46:44not be able to articulate what they do
- 00:46:47and don't need because it's always been
- 00:46:50met with one thing like a bottle or
- 00:46:52naptime
- 00:46:53you know sometimes parents just they
- 00:46:56don't know what to do with the child
- 00:46:57they're just like okay must be overtired
- 00:46:58go to sleep and or may feel hopeless and
- 00:47:03anxious in an unpredictable world they
- 00:47:06have all these feelings of distress but
- 00:47:09they don't know how to consistently make
- 00:47:10those feelings go away if you know that
- 00:47:13when you have this one certain feeling
- 00:47:15if you eat something it makes that
- 00:47:17feeling go away then that's empowering
- 00:47:20if you know when you start having this
- 00:47:23other feeling that it means you're tired
- 00:47:25and you sleep and it makes that feeling
- 00:47:27go away then that's pretty predictable
- 00:47:30and it's less of a scary environment the
- 00:47:34same thing with loud noises and changes
- 00:47:37of scenery as children are exposed to
- 00:47:40different things they start learning
- 00:47:42that as long as I'm in the presence of
- 00:47:44my caregiver things are generally going
- 00:47:47to be ok
- 00:47:51consistent mindful parenting can be
- 00:47:53disrupted by addiction mental health
- 00:47:56issues or skill deficits it is really
- 00:47:59important that we educate parents not
- 00:48:04only moms but dads grandmas anybody
- 00:48:07who's a caregiver with an infant about
- 00:48:10postpartum depression a lot of women
- 00:48:13still feel very guilty and shameful when
- 00:48:17if they start developing symptoms of
- 00:48:21postpartum depression and it's important
- 00:48:23for us as clinicians to destigmatize
- 00:48:26that and let them know that it's really
- 00:48:28pretty common and yeah you may have some
- 00:48:30horrible thoughts let's talk about them
- 00:48:32it doesn't mean you're going to act on
- 00:48:34them so we can encourage them to get
- 00:48:37early help early intervention and do
- 00:48:39what they need to do so they can be
- 00:48:41there for their child if something
- 00:48:44drastic changes in a person's life
- 00:48:45he or she may revisit the trust mistrust
- 00:48:49task so yeah you may solve it when
- 00:48:52you're an infant you know zero to two
- 00:48:54but if something drastic changes
- 00:48:57your life you know they are a they're a
- 00:49:01victim of a crime or you know some
- 00:49:05something super tragic happens then they
- 00:49:09may start questioning what is safe and
- 00:49:12what isn't and you know should they
- 00:49:14really trust other people and so we're
- 00:49:17kind of back to the beginning can they
- 00:49:19trust their own intuition are they able
- 00:49:22to meet their own needs or you know can
- 00:49:26they exist in this world so it's
- 00:49:29important to understand that you know
- 00:49:30somebody may have had a great childhood
- 00:49:32it may have had a great infant
- 00:49:34development but later in life if
- 00:49:37something catastrophic happens they may
- 00:49:39revisit that task and may have to kind
- 00:49:42of process it a little bit about what
- 00:49:44that crisis means to the person normal
- 00:49:48development involves small changes that
- 00:49:50build on prior learning as children get
- 00:49:54older we let them do a little bit more
- 00:49:56we let them venture out a little further
- 00:49:58we give them a few more privileges if
- 00:50:01things start to go haywire we rein them
- 00:50:03back in but we always serve as a safe
- 00:50:06home base so they develop self efficacy
- 00:50:10they develop a sense of who they are so
- 00:50:13when they move on and they graduate high
- 00:50:16school and they go on to college or
- 00:50:18trade school or their first job yeah
- 00:50:21that's a huge change but it's not a
- 00:50:25major crisis because they've learned to
- 00:50:27trust themselves they've developed a
- 00:50:29sense of identity they've also learned
- 00:50:31that there is a safe space that they can
- 00:50:34go back to if they need to adults have
- 00:50:38the ability to learn to identify
- 00:50:39interpret and meet their own needs
- 00:50:42increasing self-esteem independence
- 00:50:44self-efficacy and hopefulness so we want
- 00:50:47to look at in general what's going on
- 00:50:52with this person right now how much do
- 00:50:56they trust their own intuition and how
- 00:50:58much do they trust other people and how
- 00:51:00can we help them when we're working with
- 00:51:03parents obviously you know there are
- 00:51:05some very fundamental things we can do
- 00:51:06to help them help their child resolve
- 00:51:08those tasks
- 00:51:10and help them navigate some of those
- 00:51:12tricky spots like when the child is
- 00:51:16going to start sleeping alone how do you
- 00:51:17how long do you let them cry do you let
- 00:51:20them cry it out those sorts of questions
- 00:51:22that come up a lot and there's a book
- 00:51:24I'm trying to remember the author right
- 00:51:26now it's called solving your child's
- 00:51:29sleep problems and it's been around for
- 00:51:32at least 20 years right now a really
- 00:51:35good book and it talks about different
- 00:51:37ways parents can help do that in a way
- 00:51:39that doesn't cause too much distress to
- 00:51:42the child or the parents so that's a
- 00:51:45book that I would suggest people really
- 00:51:47look up in their local libraries or
- 00:51:52online like I said it's been around for
- 00:51:54like 20 years so I imagine it's at a lot
- 00:51:56of libraries or on Kindle even so when
- 00:52:02you're trying to navigate something like
- 00:52:03that when you're trying to help parents
- 00:52:05navigate something like that sometimes
- 00:52:07it's helpful that for them to have sort
- 00:52:09of a go-to guide these are the two
- 00:52:14websites I was talking about for
- 00:52:16interpreting baby's cries gives you an
- 00:52:19idea about how different cries and they
- 00:52:22sound different if you can attend to
- 00:52:24them early and you can try doing that in
- 00:52:28if the parent brings baby to session
- 00:52:31generally you know as a clinician I
- 00:52:34generally discourage that unless we're
- 00:52:37specifically working on parenting issues
- 00:52:39because this mom gets upset it tends to
- 00:52:42stress out baby
- 00:52:43if we're talking about something other
- 00:52:45than parenting baby right there but we
- 00:52:49can do make mom can videotape
- 00:52:53child at home and try to armchair
- 00:52:56quarterback some of those cries that
- 00:52:59came up try to learn the child's rhythms
- 00:53:02and do some things like that in session
- 00:53:06instead of having baby kind of right
- 00:53:08there are there any questions
- 00:53:19all righty I will stick around for a few
- 00:53:23more minutes in case you come up with
- 00:53:24any questions that you have otherwise I
- 00:53:27will see you all on Thursday for
- 00:53:30toddlers
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- Child Development
- Infancy
- Attachment Theory
- Trust vs Mistrust
- Mindful Parenting
- Schemas
- Postpartum Depression
- Cognitive Development
- Parenting
- Caregiver Influence