Provide opportunities for your baby to explore other people, places and things in the environment with you. New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. (2013). New Jersey Council for Young Children. Bodrova, E., & Leong,D.J. (2007). Tools of the mind: The Vygotskian approach to early childhood education. 2nd ed. Columbus, OH: Merrill/ Prentice Hall. (Level III) USA.
Studies have shown that caregiver interactions, especially if they are face-to-face between adult caregivers and infants, help develop self-regulation skills in infants.
When parents play and explore with their babies, there are synchronous interactions between them. These interactions consist of the temporal (time-based) matching of micro-level behaviours such as gaze, affect (emotional connection), vocalisation, body movements, and arousal indicators.
Studies show that mothers often coordinate their behaviours based on their infants' cues. With time, infants and mothers begin to synchronise their behaviours, forming a repetitive rhythmic organisation to mother-infant face-to-face interactions. As parents model self-regulation, these interactions help infants to regulate themselves as well. Feldman, R. (2007a). Parent–infant synchrony and the construction of shared timing; physiological precursors, developmental outcomes, and risk conditions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry: 48., 329–354. (Level IV) Feldman, R. (2012). Oxytocin and social affiliation in humans. Hormones and Behaviour: 61., 380–391. (Level V)