PRENATAL AND PERINATAL EDUCATION SERIES - ARTICLE 7
BONDING
AND LEARNING – ATTACHMENT
- Shivakumar Belavadi, PPNE, Bangalore, India
TOPIC
- Impact of prenatal bonding on health and learning
Module
7 introduced many sources on the importance of prenatal bonding. In a short essay, describe the impact of
prenatal bonding on health and learning.
Please include a discussion of how it improves health indicators such as
intelligence, language, physical development, mental and emotional development
and motor skills.
It is axiomatic to say that a human
being is an innately capable and social being. The ingrained social nature
makes a man/woman search and seek relationships. As life begins, progresses and
development unfolds, there is a blooming of learning and an assimilation of
experience.
Classical psychology
had considered that conscious learning happened only from about the age of 3. Hence
the cognitive learning abilities and memory were taken into account thereafter.
The classical understanding has had to change with the new knowledge gained
through pre and perinatal studies, research and understanding. A child in the
womb is sentient …… and begins learning there. It may be even more esoteric to
recognize that the prenate builds on the knowledge it carries/ is conceived
with!
Authorities like
David Chamberlain, Thomas Verny, Marshall Klaus, Michel Odent, Ashley Montagu,
Joseph Chilton Pearce, amongst many, have vouched on the facts that the child
in the womb is sentient, wants relationships and is a seeker. As events unfold
– from the universal realm, transforming into a sperm, ovum for fusing together
as a Zygote, embryonic & foetal states through the course of Infancy - two main purposes of life emerge: (a) Live
Life and (b) Learn. It may be
worth examining how bonding promotes the primary purposes.
Baby Bonding
Sources
The first
external player with whom the prenate relates and associates is obviously the
mother. But the father, elder siblings and others in the family (like
grandparents, uncles and aunts living together in joint family like in India)
also play a significant role in continual interactions – consciously and
subconsciously with the child in the womb. Hence Bonding , as a mechanism of building
a meaningful and purposeful mutual relationship, has a definitive role between
the baby in the womb and the external players. Mother, however remains the primary conduit and hence the bonding with
the mother and then the father form the two primary gateways for Life to
Progress and Learning to Happen.
Bonding
and Development Paradigm
The relationship
established between the prenate and parents could be based on:
(a) Knowledge
– and hence facilitating love and full flow of positive emotions. This is known
to enhance the harmonious experience of the child, who remains a keen learner. Such
knowledge may be acquired through formal study or through society as is the
case in many cultures including India.
(b) Ignorance – and hence, at the minimum,
lead to underdeveloped emotions and love. However, at the maximum it can lead
to deleterious consequences of discord - such as violence, under development,
disease and the like.
The
same foundational principles extend in time to the course of birthing and the
first few hours after delivery. The potential for positive energies caused by
bonding is said to wane in the period thereafter.
Here is a small
list, by no means exhaustive, of the effects of bonding on health and learning mentioned
by various authorities.
1. Proper attachment and bonding paves the way
for the foetus /infant to learn and feel that the world is a secure place. They begin to appreciate things around -
people and objects from a perspective of love and strength; not disdain or
fear. The emotional relationships the child begins to form in the backdrop
produces as host of goodies for its appreciation of the life experience. On the other hand, it has been seen that where
the baby in the womb or in the course of infancy is neglected, the neglect and
abandonment propels the child to become indifferent, diffident and often
dangerous. Ashley Montagu and Marshall
Klaus have observed that the roots of violence in criminal lies in the
unfavourable bonding experiences. A mother who is treated well by the family
and society, nurtures her baby better. TO the contrary - Adolf Hitler and
Saddam Hussain are examples quoted often.
2. Health of the child in the womb and the
immunity demonstrated by the child in the course of life have been seen to be
enhanced in cases of secure attachment and bonding. Converse has been the
result where there is a dearth of bonding and attachment.
The
ability of the child and mother to undergo a smooth birthing process has also
been noted where the child and mother have prenatally bonded well.
Similarly,
where mothers have been given access to the child immediately after birth,
including the golden hour when the child moves and suckles, the results on
health, growth and immunity are seen to be significantly enhanced.
Physical
development of bonded babies has been much better in the observed cases. When
such mothers breast feed and continue, it automatically causes better nutrition
and better immunity for the child. The sensorial and motor skills in children
are much better with better bonding.
Taking
a step back, it has also been seen that where the prenate bonds better, it
takes to the breast easily! Dr.Thomas Verny
has quoted many studies in the book Secret Life of the Unborn Child which bear
testimony for the above.
3. Better bonding leads to improved mental
faculties. For instance, the child begins to pick up language while still
in the womb. The child can indeed learn multiple languages in the early stages
of life – prenatally and during infancy/early childhood. Dr Verny quotes an example of a child in
France ( of French Parents) being predisposed to picking up English language. The
child in these phases has phenomenal learning potential and memory abilities. David
Chamberlain in his book Windows to the Womb has dealt elaborately on the Intelligence
of a prenate through the Linguistic, Musical, Logical-Mathematical, Spatial, Kinaesthetic,
Inter & Intra Personal dimensions
4. Emotion handling abilities of the child in
life, the intellectual and learning abilities including memory have all been
observed to be much more in the course of life in well bonded babies. A
child’s orientation to music, tones and voices is laid in the womb. The mental
patterns begin to form in the womb and there is evidence that intellectual
abilities are also better founded in well bonded babies.
Emotionally,
bonding has led to children being more stable emotionally in life and handle
stress better. The ability to cope with change of moods are also better.
Experiments showing separation of Infants and parent have shown that in cases
of well bonded babies, recovery from separation is much faster and therefore
more conducive to the emotional wellbeing of the child. On the contrary, babies
who have not bonded well have taken to reactive behaviour, substance abuse and
the like.
David Chamberlain
in Windows to the Womb has given ample examples where a child who bonds better
has better learning, emotional and intellectual abilities.
5. Foundation
for health in later life is in the womb. There is a clear case that the
impressions and tendencies gathered/sown during the course of Prenancy and
Infancy, have a marked bearing on health in the course of adult life. As Peter Nathanielsz puts it, "How we
are ushered into life determines how we leave." In the work done by him,
there is clear evidence again that improper nutrition of the pregnant mother
predisposes the child in the womb to many problems later in life. These serves
as examples of situations of improper bonding between mother and child. The
child in later life could turn out to be obese, prone to cardiovascular
diseases, liver/kidneys and pancreas problems.
In
summary, it may be noticed that prenatal bonding and attachment bonding
immediately after birth seem to hold many aces for the overall and holistic
development of a child. Not only are negative consequences - like proclivity to diseases, adverse health
conditions and reduced learning effects avoided; but significant positive
effects - like enhanced physical development,
better immunity , health, intellectual capabilities and emotional management faculties have been
observed on the foundations of good and secure attachment and bonding. Thus
much of the later behaviours and experiences in the course of life have their
roots way back in the womb.
Bonding is a key
to building a holistic Life experience – both for Living and Learning.
