How Mother-Child Relationship Impact on Brain Development?

When we talk about the mother-child relationship, we cannot ignore Bowlby's theory of 'Attachment'.

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Secure attachment 

 Bowlby  believes that secure attachment between mother-child is a key to develop a healthy and happy mind with no doubts, insecurity and stress. 

Insecure attachement

On the other hand, insecure attachment brings a disorganised, scared, distressed character. That a person can easily be cheated and trapped by others due to his/her lack of self-confidence and self-esteem.

Early life experiences 

A child's experiences during the earliest years of life have a lasting impact on the architecture of the developing brain.

Genes provide the basic blueprint, but experiences shape the process that determines whether a child's brain will give a firm or weak foundation for all future learning, behaviour and health.

Critical period in early years

During the critical period of brain development, billions of brain cells called neurons send electrical signals to communicate with each other. 

Above connections form circuits that become the necessary foundation of the brain architecture.

Repetition of circuit and connections 

Circuits and connections increase at a rapid pace and are reinforced through repeated use.

Well-used circuits create lightning-fast pathways for natural signals to travel across regions of the brain.

Simple circuits form first, providing a foundation for more complex circuits to build on later. 

Role of mother

Moms have an important role in their child's mental health because they provide basic necessities (water, food, shelter, and sleep) and form a secure attachment with their young children.

Challenging parenting

Attempting to understand the nature and course of parent-child relationships is endlessly fascinating and endlessly challenging.

Just as a mother stressed and even depress due to the lack of intimacy with her child, so is her little one, likely to be stressed due to limited ways to communicate that distress. Evidence suggests that this discontent may be at least in part due to variation in brain pathways responsible for sensory processing. The stress of disconnecting itself may then have a cognitive to export a negative effect on the developing brain. 

Thus, parenting stress contributes to more behaviour issues, such as communication delay, cognitive development. Child behavioural issues is get worse when they have autism. To reduce the behavioural problems, parental comfort,  positive emotional reaction and self-regulation are essential parental factors in developing healthy child brain and temperament.