A healthy attachment between parent and child begins at birth. A healthy attachment or sense of trust and closeness is the foundation for healthy child development in all areas - intellectual, social and physical. If a child doesn't develop a strong attachment to an adult, a child's physical growth, social skills and intellectual potential are all affected in negative ways.
Think of attachment as the foundation for a house. When a child's brain does not develop a healthy sense of trust, the brain's foundation for learning, growing and interacting with others isn't a stable place on which to build more skills. Ideally, children need a foundation of solid concrete as a stable base on which to build their physical, social and intellectual development. If the foundation of trust is mushy and unstable, any further development will be affected.
How Do Parents Establish Healthy Trust?
Respond to a Crying Baby- During the first year of life, respond to your baby's way of communicating, crying. Crying is a baby's way to let parents know that they have a need. Babies cry when they are hungry, wet, scared, lonely, etc. In order to establish trust, babies need to learn that when they have a need, someone hears their need and will meet it. If diaper changes, feeding, burping and singing do not calm a crying baby, consider giving your baby a bath or soothing massage.
Give Loving Physical Contact - Healthy attachment requires positive physical touch. Babies need to be held, rocked, cuddled, hugged gently, kissed and massaged. Baths offer a great opportunity to gently rub and massage a baby's skin and muscles.
Talk in a Soothing Voice - Talk to your baby in calm tones. Sing songs to your baby. Use positive facial expressions. Compliment your baby. Tell your baby how much you love them.
Describe a Baby's Feelings - Although you can't always know what your baby is feeling, you can guess. A baby's brain learns and benefits from a caring adult putting feelings into words. Describing a baby's feelings doesn't have to be complicated. Babies learn a lot from simple statements such as "Your diaper is all wet, isn't it? That doesn't feel good, does it? Let's get your diaper changed so you'll feel dry" or "You look like a sleepy baby".
Practice Parental Self Care - Being a new parent can be extremely stressful. Try to build a support system and structure your days so that you, as a parent get as much rest as possible and have healthy outlets for your own stress. You'll be able to talk to your baby in calm ways and meet your baby's needs better if your own needs are being met.
But What About Spoiling?
Parents often worry about spoiling their baby and get conflicting advice from health care professionals, relatives and friends. Meeting a baby's needs for trust, physical closeness, and healthy physical growth is not spoiling a baby. Babies require an amazing amount of attention, touch and care.
Mom Topics 
A healthy attachment between parent and child begins at birth. A healthy attachment or sense of trust and closeness is the foundation for healthy child development in all areas - intellectual, social and physical. If a child doesn't develop a strong attachment to an adult, a child's physical growth, social skills and intellectual potential are all affected in negative ways.
