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Abstract:
The quality of the maternal-infant relationship has a significant influence on maternal mental health and infant well-being, development, and adaptation throughout life. Bonding is a unique and long-term emotional tie that begins with the first contact between the mother and infant and continues throughout the postpartum period. Postnatal separation has negative outcomes on the mother-infant bonding process. Mothers who participated in immediate skin-to-skin contact and initiated breastfeeding within two hours following childbirth were more sensitive to the infant's needs and the child seemed more content at one year. Inadequate mother-infant relationships result in long-term consequences for the child. Poor interactions affect the child's cognitive and socio-emotional development, physical health, and personal relationships.
Keywords: mother-infant relationship, synchrony, breastfeeding, skin-toskin contact
Over the years, extensive research, conducted on maternal-infant bonding, has led to an increasing amount of evidence supporting the importance of early mother-infant interaction. Infants are born with a desire to participate in human interactions, and in the early years of life, their survival is completely dependent on the caregiver, who is responsible for feeding, protecting, and nurturing them (Mantymaa et al., 2006). Bonding and attachment have long been recognized as vital components to all aspects of infant well-being (Pickler, 2009). Bonding is influenced by physical contact between the mother and infant. The quality of the bond can be altered by various factors, some from the infant, such as prematurity, physical pathology, or irritable temperament, and others from the mother, including her support system, her style of attachment, physical illness, postpartum depression, or other psychiatric disturbances (Bienfait et al., 201 1). Studies have shown that first-time mothers and mothers who experienced difficult labors, involving severe pain, had less interaction and engagement with the newborn in the postpartum period. A less positive initial reaction to the infant was also observed following a caesarean delivery, when compared to vaginal, as well as with those who received epidural anesthesia. A delay in care for the newborn, lower levels of Cortisol, and the negative impact of anesthesia on the infant's interactive behavior are thought to be the contributing factors for these specific results (Figueiredo, Costa, Pacheco, & Pais, 2009).
Infants are born with a desire to participate in human interactions
Maternal bonding has been described as the mother's...