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Chapter 10 Social-Emotional Development in the First Year 295
of stress. These may include feeding and sleeping
problems, fear of strangers, or excessive crying.
Sometimes, parents and caregivers may
inadvertently (unintentionally) cause stress in a
baby’s environment. Main stressors include not
meeting a baby’s physical needs, limiting a baby’s
body contact with a parent, and not being a
co-regulator when the baby is stressed. Not
providing the baby with “serve and return” signals
or providing harsh signals can also cause stress for
the infant.
When the baby’s environment is neglectful or
chaotic, the baby has to adapt either by showing
little response to the environment or by over-
responding (being hypersensitive) to it. In both cases,
these babies have surges of negative hormones,
especially cortisol. Chronic elevation of cortisol
increases blood pressure, pulse, and blood sugar
level and interrupts digestive and excretory (kidney
and bowel) functions. It also destroys brain cells,
weakens attachment to parents, and is related to
later depression.
Infants need constant emotional support. Parents
and other caregivers can provide this support by
responding to the baby’s needs, holding the baby
to a parent’s body, talking in a soothing voice, and
being a co-regulator when the baby is distressed.
Parents may also breast-feed to soothe the baby.
(Compared with formula-feeding, breast-feeding
reduces stress hormones.) Monitoring the baby’s
environment, such as keeping noise levels down,
can also be helpful for reducing stress.
When problems arise, the following additional
tips may help:
• Decide if the problem is temporary. If
the baby seems ill, seek prompt medical
attention. If the baby does not seem ill,
wait a few days. Babies do have mood
• Name recognition. By four months of
age, infants recognize their names if used
often. Calling the infant by name during
happy times gives the infant positive
feelings about his or her name. Happy
times include reunions between the adult
and infant, such as after a nap or when the
adult returns from work. Parents can also
call the infant by name when talking to him
or her during child care tasks or games.
• Recognition of body parts. During the
second half of the fi rst year, infants can
learn to touch body parts (nose, ears,
mouth, and hair) upon request and fi nd
these same body parts in other people and
stuffed animals.
• Mirror play. Looking in mirrors also
increases self-awareness. Infants enjoy
seeing themselves in mirrors even before
they know the images they see are their
own. Calling the infant’s image by name
is helpful. Infants like trying to identify
body parts in their mirror image. Adults
may place infants in front of mirrors so
they can watch themselves eat, dress,
and move. Infants also enjoy having
nonbreakable play mirrors as toys.
• Object possession. Toward the end of the
fi rst year, infants become possessive about
some objects. This should be encouraged,
because infants’ understanding that some
objects belong to them is part of self-
awareness. Also, infants must possess
things before they can learn to share
in a few years. Adults can help teach
possession by making statements or
asking questions, such as “Here’s Adora’s
dress,” or “Where are Will’s blocks?”
Handling Stress and
Special Problems in Infancy
When parents and other caregivers meet babies’
needs, babies have surges of positive hormones.
These babies signal, play, learn, and show affection.
All babies, however, have some problems or causes
The lack of correct and prompt
care, consistency in the baby’s
environment, and/or quality social interactions
between a baby and his or her caregiver(s) are
often the roots of many mental health problems.