Introduce
Babies begin communicating from the moment they are born, as their survival depends on it. Through crying and seeking interaction with their caregivers, they express their needs and try to get them met. These early exchanges, and how caregivers respond, lay the groundwork for the baby’s future relationships by shaping the foundations of trust, connection, and emotional security.
Responsive caregiving refers to a caregiver’s ability to recognise, interpret, and appropriately respond to a baby’s cues, such as crying, cooing, or facial expressions. It involves consistently meeting the baby’s needs for comfort, nourishment, and safety, which helps the child feel secure and understood.
Watch the following video to hear from Shereece who is tuning into her baby’s cries to understand what she needs:
Develop
As you watch the next video, consider how a caregiver’s ability to recognise and respond to their child’s cues supports the child’s sense of safety, trust and connection:
The following resource from The Association for Infant Mental Health focuses on inconsolable crying and offers insight into factors influencing the parental response to infant crying and highlights the need for parents to be empowered to develop strategies and access sources of support to help them cope.
Responsive caregiving allows for babies to experience emotional containment. Emotional containment in the context of parenting refers to the ability of parents to manage and regulate their own emotions, which in turn helps the infant feel safe and understood. In time, a child will begin to learn how to recognise and manage their own feelings. Emotional containment helps a baby develop trust and a sense of emotional security.
Reflect
Stop and Reflect: The following reflective questions aim to help you think about your approach to supporting parents with responsive caregiving:
– How do you help parents recognise and respond to their baby’s cues, such as hunger, discomfort, or the need for comfort and connection?
– In what ways can you highlight the importance of non-verbal communication in responsive caregiving?
– How can you support parents to adapt their caregiving responses as their baby grows and developmental needs change?