Studies have shown that caregivers’ interactions, especially if they are face-to-face between adult caregivers and infants, help develop self-regulation skills.

When parents play and explore with babies, there are synchronous interactions between parent and child. These interactions consist of the temporal (time-based) matching of micro-level behaviours such as gaze, affect (emotional connection), vocalization, body movements, and arousal indicators.

Studies show that mothers often coordinate their behaviours based on the cues of their infants and that with time, infants and mothers begin to synchronize their behaviours, forming a repetitive rhythmic organisation to mother-infant face-to-face interactions. As the parent models self-regulation, these interactions help the infants to regulate themselves as well.

1, 2

1. 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)

2. Feldman, R. (2012). Oxytocin and social affiliation in humans. Hormones and Behaviour: 61., 380–391. (Level V)

Studies have also shown that mutual gazing between caregivers and their infants also help with emotional and attentional regulation. An early longitudinal study by Gable and Isabella has illustrated how the matching of maternal behaviours to infant’s cues predicted later regulatory skills. Alert and attentive mothers, who displayed appropriate levels of stimulation with their one-month-old infants during face-to-face interactions, adapted their behaviours to that of the infants. Findings revealed that such mothers had infants who showed better regulatory skills at 4 months of age.