Communication With Infants
Every parent looks forward to the birth of their child. They want to give the best for baby and prepare themselves to child’s upbringing. They want their child develops appropriately and take all necessaries measures for this. Early interaction with parent exerts a strong effect on survival and father development. The more parent interacts with baby the better baby’s needs can be fulfilled. Newborns communicate their needs through crying and facial expressions. And it is very important parents clearly recognize these signals. From the time of birth babies need close contact with parents. If the parent responds and fills all baby’s needs, he knows he is loved and safe. Some physicians say that infants require “not sleep or food, but to stroke and snuggle and to look at and listen to each other” (Marcia Clare 2007).
In this paper I want to highlight the strategies and ways of communication with infants and some challenges parents may face during this process.
Communication may be verbal (language) or non-verbal (gestures, mimics, facial expression, movements and touch). Non-verbal communication is more powerful when we deal with infants as they don’t understand the
meaning of words. When we speak with them the more informative for them is tone or pitch of the voice. They can differentiate the voice of their mother. “Non-verbal communication with infants includes looks (scowls and
smiles), actions (slaps and hugs), silence (warm or cold)”. You shouldn’t underestimate the ability of infants to communicate.
And they use different ways to express themselves. The website zerotothree states, that "Babies communicate from birth, through sounds (crying, cooing, squealing), facial expressions (eye contact, smiling, grimacing)
and gestures/body movements (moving legs in excitement or distress, and later, gestures like pointing)". Parents should respond to baby’s attempts to communicate according to inferred meanings and the baby’s intentions.
Newborns make a variety of face movements, and facial expressions to show happiness, sadness, fear, worry, anger and discomfort. Meltzoff and others argue that the imitation of human actions is the first bridge between the infant and others, and that imitation serves the dual functions of differentiating ”others” and providing an early means of communication with them. (Meltzoff & Moore, 1977).
By smiling back at a baby and react to cries parents encourage infants to express themselves more often. Parent-child interaction during the first few months of the child’s life – the reciprocal and turntaking interchange of looks, expressions and vocalizations – is a proto-dialogue or preverbal conversation (Bretherton & Bates, 1979; Stern, 1977). Parent and child alternate “utterances”, vocalizations, gestures and facial expressions in what are called proto-conversations (Stevenson et al., 1986).
Parent and infant engage in rounds of smiling and looking at one another and alternating their communicative signals in a dialogue. The infant responds to the expressions of the parent and …
