weaning and infant massage : strange association, think someone ...
But this is an opportunity to bring attention to the famous experiment conducted by Harry Harlow on rhesus monkeys in 1958 and from there to follow a few considerations.
Harlow was an American psychologist who became famous for some experiments, also conducted with questionable ethics procedures at all today, aimed at studying the effects of social isolation in monkeys.
His most famous experiment concerns the separation of some monkeys Reshus from the mother, the little monkey, locked in a cage with two substitute mother, a plush warm and soft but did not provide milk and other cold and hard, made with wire, but can delivering milk, showed a preference for the surrogate mother stuffed when they felt threatened and needed comfort as to the Mother of wire only to go to meet their food needs and then return immediately to the soft mother.
was thus demonstrated that the need for physical contact is a primary need and independent of that relating to the satisfaction of physiological needs, and that the mother-child attachment bond is more than just the outcome of an instrumental relationship aimed at ' obtaining food.
Similarly, infants in orphanages became ill and died when, while clean and properly fed, were left in their beds without sufficient contact and cuddles.
In a famous statement by Frederick Leboyer says that being cuddled, caressed, massaged, touched, are all important and essential nutrients for children such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, ... if not more.
Based on these ideas we return once again to consider how the act of offering food and one of offering protection, warmth and respect are closely linked and essential for the growth of a human baby.
Every mother knows that breastfeeding your baby is a synthesis of those sublime gestures of care and love are essential to life.
So I turn my thoughts on a critical and important to characterize the mother-child relationship in the first year of life: the weaning.
As you know, this is an evolutionary transition of enormous importance in the growth of the puppy that, as conducted in a gradual and always for a few months' flanked 'by' breastfeeding (where it is not necessary the ' artificial feeding involves considerations that a bit' different), actually starts a first process of separation or rather, re-symbiotic mother-child unit. During the weaning
the attention of modern mothers tend to polarize an obvious appearance Functional Food: I begin with what foods, what can I introduce, likes / dislikes, what quantities, such as spoon ... Lots of questions dealing with not only the mind but also the time of mothers.
It so happens that if the first puppy received breastfeeding and daily massage, around 6-7 months, often precisely because of these changes in order "operational" in the mother-child relationship, the daily practice of massage tents to fall a bit 'out of use. But it is precisely at this stage and especially (but not only) with those little ones who do not show blatant enthusiasm at the prospect of substitute / supplement the breast with solid food, the daily practice of massage the child is a lever and is very effective support for the mother-child units in evolution.
massage it, recreating the space devoted to it that concentrated gaze, touch, heat, vocalizations, especially communication and neurosensory stimulation with very high intensity, is a wonderful way to modulate the experiences of the child and then to relax it, contain it, reassure and continue to feed on an emotional PRIVATE WHEN on the strictly functional nutrition will address the physical evolutionary changes necessary.
Thus mothers who already have started in the early months to massage the small step up but not give up and / or keep alive the practice during the period of weaning and those mothers who for many reasons they have not done before in this period are an important reason to support growth.
Daniela Iurilli
0 comments:
Post a Comment