This document summarizes key aspects of parenting infants and toddlers discussed in a parenting course. It covers babies' initial behaviors, how parents respond to newborns, the parent becoming the regulator of the baby's reactions, parenting premature newborns, tasks in the first three months, attachment, development in the second year, gender differences in parenting, encouraging compliance, toddlers' responses to upsets, parenting different temperaments, the importance of play, observations of parents and babies at three months, an effective program for parents of fussy babies, family life at one year, disagreements and coparenting, effectiveness of parenting programs, programs for at-risk parents, and the positive message of parenting programs.

1. CFD 250
Parenting in Contemporary Society
Missouri State University
Springfield, Missouri
Kim Sutton, M.Ed.

2. Parenting B-2 Years
Chapter 7

3. Baby’s Initial Behaviors Are Limited
 Dr. Karp
 Babies need another trimester in womb; important to duplicate
conditions in womb
 Sleep 10-18 hours a day
 Eat 5-8 hours a day
 Cry 2-3 hours a day; By 3 months, cry an hour a day
 Periods of quiet alertness, looking around
3

4. Newborns Observe and Respond
 Preprogrammed to respond to human beings
 Hears in human voice range
 Sees best at distance held
 Moves to human language
 Able to imitate human facial expressions at week
 For example: sticking out tongue
 Empathic cries in response to other babies’ cries
4

5. Parents’ Responses to Newborns
 Mothers and fathers respond to babies physically
 Mothers’ hormone secretions of oxytocin make physical
closeness, nursing very pleasurable for mothers
 Fathers experience some changes as well
 In first three months, parents provide physical care and
affection to babies
5

6. Parent Becomes Regulator
of Baby’s Reactions
 Newborn’s physiological system immature; very difficult for
baby to regulate
 Mother’s physical presence regulates baby’s heart rate, sleep
and eating patterns
 Mother’s emotional reactions shape baby’s emotional moods
 Mother becomes social partner; initiates interpersonal dance of
turn taking
 Responding to other and waiting for other’s response
6

7. Parenting Premature Newborns
 Harder to regulate baby’s physiological state because it is so immature
and baby’s signals are hard to read
 Parents’ warmth, sensitivity, ability to coordinate their responses with
baby’s actions are important
 Mother’s positive attitudes about baby, her care of baby, and her
relationship with her husband predicted baby’s development
 Parents’ responsiveness and social stimulation of premature predicted
children’s academic and social success through young adulthood
7

8. Parenting in the First Three Months
 Main tasks are:
 Feeding
 Reducing crying
 Encouraging sleep
 Babies who have longer hours of sleep, more time to see/act
8

9. 9
Attachment
Parenting (AP)
• Breastfeed
• Co-sleep with babies;
nurse through night
• Carry babies in sling
• Respond immediately
to cries
Western Parenting
(WP)
• Breastfeed
• Child more often
sleeps in own bed
• Place child in stroller
or seat to amuse self
• Child waits for
response to cries
Combined
Parenting (CP)
• Breastfeed (less than
AP)
• Co-sleep (less than AP)
• Respond immediately
to cries (less than AP)
• Held more during the
day than WP parents
but less than AP
Carefully Controlled Study

10. Method of Study
 Parents chose method of parenting before baby was born
 Therefore, method not based on baby’s temperament or behaviors
 Parents kept diaries of babies’ feeding, daily activities, crying
and sleep for 4 consecutive days
 At 10 days old
 At 5 weeks old
 At 12 weeks old
10

11. Behavior Common in All Groups
 Amount of time parents spent playing and interacting with
babies at 10 days was same
 Percentage of babies with inconsolable crying (like colic)
 Similar at 10 days
 Similar at 5 weeks
 Decreased at 12 weeks
 Supports belief that colic is not related to parenting
11

12. Differences in Three Groups
 Infants in London group spent 50% more time fussing during
day at 10 days and 5 weeks than AP and CP babies, but same
amount of time at 12 weeks
 Infants in CP and WP groups more likely to sleep 5 or more
hours at night by 12 weeks than AP babies who still woke
parents and cried at 10 months
12

13. Conclusions
 Certain baby behaviors (i.e., crying) occur regardless of
parenting style
 Holding and responding immediately to cries reduced daytime
crying in early weeks
 Longer nighttime sleep habits were encouraged by less co-
sleeping at night
 CP appeared to have the benefits of both WP and AP parenting
13

14. Infant’s Growing Skills
 Increasing neurophysiological control over body at 3, 8, and 18
months spurs increasingly complex behavior
 Baby plays with objects in more complex way
 Begins to crawl and walk and better able to explore
 Develops understanding of the permanence of objects
 Responsive to parents’ language
14

15. Secure Attachment to
Parent Is Based On Abilities
• Sensitively meet baby’s needs,
respond appropriately to
baby’s signals
• Create a mutual, harmonious
relationship
• Coordinate actions with baby’s
actions
• Maintain positive, warm
acceptance of baby
15
Insecure Attachment (p. 85)
Disorganized
or
Disoriented
Anxious
Resistant
Anxious
Avoidant

16. Shift in Parenting in Fourth Quarter
 Babies become more mobile
 Use parents as a safe base to explore
 Use parents as a reference point for approved/disapproved actions
 Parents begin to focus on children learning rules
 Babies gradually begin to comply with parents’ simple requests;
particularly if parents have developed mutual cooperation with
baby
16

17. Gender Differences in Parenting
 Parents differ in quantity of time spent with infants and
 Mothers and fathers equally competent in baby care and sensitivity
 Mothers spend more time; more likely to hold baby; more verbal
 Babies attached to parents based on quality of relationship
 Mothers more likely to provide holding environment; more verbal
 Fathers more attentive visually; more physically active in play
 Fathers more likely to be engaged in parenting when marriage is
satisfying and mothers are relaxed
17

18. Development in the Second Year
 Increasingly verbal
 1-3 words at 1 year
 50 words at 18 months
 300 words at age 2
 15 to 18 months
 Sense of self grows; reacts to self as others do
 Becomes a person of plans and intentions
 Does not like the word “No”
18

19. 19
PARENTS
• Critical
• Disapproving
• Inconsistent
• Unpredictable
• Ignored child's needs
• Forced child to act
PARENTS
•Tolerant
•Realistic expectations
•Anticipated problems
•Consistent daily routine
•Consistent, fair rules
•Firm
MoreTemperOutbursts
LessTemperOutbursts
Anger outbursts peak by 2 years of age then decrease.
Most are brief and occur when child is tired, hungry or ill

20. Family Life That Encourages Compliance
 Parent modeling
 Daily routines
 Conversations about the rules
 At 13 months rules center on safety
 At 18 months rules center on self-care, waiting, mealtime behavior
 At 24 months rules center on behavior and helpfulness
 Children’s compliance with safety rules is high; increases with age
 Parents intervene as much as 8-10 times an hour to get compliance
with a two-year-old
20

21. Toddler’s Ways of Handling Upsets
 Look away from desired object and try to soothe themselves
 Call or pull parents to where they want to obtain their help
 Use words to express feelings and get feedback from parents
 Use transitional objects to provide comfort at times of distress
 Examples: blanket and/or special toy
21

22. Parenting Irritable, Fussy Babies
 Babies’ fussy, irritable behavior can make parenting more
difficult and frustrating
 Parents, especially those who feel stressed for other reasons,
are inclined to withdraw or to use harsh punishment to compel
children to do what they want
 Older parents with resources are more likely to be supportive
and patient; more effective in decreasing babies’ irritability
22

23. Parenting Fearful, Inhibited Infants
 Fearful, inhibited children who withdraw from new situations
are likely to arouse parents’ nurturance and protection
 If parents are too protective and soothing; toddlers tend to
remain fearful and inhibited
 Children’s fearfulness decreases when parents remain calm,
supportive; help them develop coping strategies
 Children are quick to internalize rules; need only mild support
to do so; directives and power-assertion create stress for them
23

24. Parenting Fearless, Energetic Children
 Curious, energetic, and independent children learn rules most
easily when parents create warm, mutually responsive
relationships with children
 Children learn rules not to get rewards or avoid punishments
but to maintain the positive relationship with the parent
24

25. Play and Fun
 Children learn give and take in play; promotes later self-control
 Imaginative play advances children’s thinking; particularly with
parents and language increases
 Comparison of mother-toddler play in European American,
South American immigrant, and Japanese immigrant families
revealed universal patterns of play with exploratory and
pretend play found in all three groups
 Boys engaged in more exploratory play when they played alone
but not when they played with mothers
25

26. Observations of Parents and Babies at
Three Months
 Parents are sensitive and responsive but cautious with babies
 Couples differed on where baby slept, how long to wait to pick
up crying baby, etc. but worked best together when included
both views
 24% of mothers and 13% of fathers reported clinical levels of
depression; some reported decrease in martial satisfaction
 Depressed feelings and marital dissatisfaction decreased
parental warmth; made it harder to work together
26

27. Fussy Baby Network Program (FBN)
 Meeting babies’ needs successfully sets in motion a positive
parental cycle of confidence in their own skills; feeling good
about the baby and their partner
 About 20% of parents struggle with babies who do not sleep
and cry inconsolably more than 3 hours a day
 Parents are exhausted, highly stressed, and doubt their own
skills but research shows the crying is not the parent’s fault
27

28. FBN (continued)
 This interdisciplinary program offers preventive education and
gives parents skills in care giving
 Since prolonged crying can signal a physical problem, program
provides complete assessment of baby’s health and
development; refers babies for help as needed
 Parents’ psychological adjustment is assessed to see if there are
any problems requiring special help
 Parent training and consultation are provided
28

29. FBN
 Three Guiding Principles of FBN
 Provide safe place for parents to express concerns and obtain
referrals
 Collaborate with parents, get their views, and let parents develop
their own strategies for dealing with problems
 Give support in moving ahead in small steps
 Long-Term Goals of FBN
 Increase parents’ confidence, knowledge, and understanding of
their baby
 Promote positive relationships between partners and all family
members
29

30. Parent’s Satisfaction with Program
 At beginning of program, the average stress level of parents
was 4.59 (on a scale of 5)
 At the end, the average stress level was 0.93
 Recall in the last section on parents at 3 months
 Negative predictions of parents only came true when the baby was
fussy or irritable
 So a program that could increase parent’s skills with this problem
can have great benefits for the couple relationship as well
30

31. Family Life in This Sample
 Sample contained more traditional nuclear family
 Mother does not wok (35%) or works part-tie (42%)
 Only 23% of mothers were working full-time
 Mother was primary organizer and manager of family life
 Father was material provider
 Fathers wanted mothers to be more relaxed and patient
 Mothers felt overwhelmed; wanted fathers to spend more time
in family activities and to volunteer to help without being asked
31

32. Disagreements
 When parents disagreed, they were more likely to be critical
and outspoken than they were at 3 months
 Predictions of future disagreements during the pregnancy were
related to the level of disagreements at 12 months
 Parents were most likely to disagree when couple had very
different beliefs about care giving
32

33. Coparenting
 Warm, cooperative co-parenting alliances at 3 months,
continued at 12
 Marital distress was major reason for decreasing collaboration
 Small group of parents who were unhappy in their marriages
were able to focus on working together to care for their child
33

34. Effectiveness of Parenting Programs
 Parenting programs are a main resource for parents in these
years
 Meta-analysis of 142 studies show that Parenting Programs for
expectant and new parents are very effective
 Reduce parents’ stress
 Increase parents caregiving skills
 Promote babies’ cognitive and social development
 Improve parents’ mental health
 Improve marital adjustment
34

35. Couples Groups
 Couples in six-month groups lasting from last trimester of
pregnancy to three months after birth showed significantly less
drop in marital adjustment than controls
 Weekly groups gave couples an opportunity to check in with
each other and solve problems together
35

36. Program for Parents at Risk of Abuse
 Parents in group were at risk:
 because child had health problems
 because parents were at risk for giving poor care due to
depression, partner abuse, past history with protective services
36

37. Three Groups
 Control group
 Provided information about community resources
 Home Visit (HV) group
 Home visits every 2 weeks covering achieving family goals,
parenting skills, managing finances
 Enhanced Home Visiting (EHV)
 Received all services of HV
 Received additional training to combat common beliefs of abusing
parents that children are determined to defy parents
37

38. Program of EHV
 At beginning of every visit, parents were asked to describe a problem
with their child in previous 2 weeks; what they believe was the cause
and possible solutions
 When parents gave reasons for problems
 Visitor waited until parent provided a non-blaming interpretation of problem (i.e.,
child was hungry)
 Visitor never corrected misinterpretation (I’m a terrible mother so my baby hates
me); asked for more reasons until a benign reason was given
 Visitor asked what actions might reduce the problem (i.e., if baby hungry, check
with doctor about feeding); conversation continued until action plan came up
 At beginning of next visit, results of problem-solving were discussed
and fine-tuned the solutions as necessary
38

39. Results
 At the end of the year, the rates of child abuse were as follows:
 EHV 4%, HV 23%, control 26%
 Rate of slapping, spanking infants was:
 EHV 18%, HV 42%, controls 42%
 Physical health of children improved as well
 Success of intervention showed that you can shift parents’ child-
rearing attitudes and that parents’ changes in the direction of
positive, supportive parenting improve children’s health and family
functioning
39

40. Positive Message of Parenting Programs
 All parents have the capacity for positive care giving as even
brief interventions of three visits or carrying babies in slings for
three months results in very positive changes in parent-baby
relationships.
 A wise network of family and friends is sometimes sufficient
but additional help is often required
 Organizations like Zero to Three can provide invaluable help
40

41. CFD 250
Parenting in Contemporary Society
Missouri State University
Springfield, Missouri
Kim Sutton, M.Ed.