Parental Attitudes
How quickly and how successfully newborn infants will adjust to postnatal life is greatly influenced by parental attitudes. This is the fifth condition that influences the kind of adjustments infants make to postnatal life.
When parental attitudes are unfavorable, for whatever the reason, they are reflected in treatment of the infant that militates against successful adjustments to postnatal life. By contrast, parents whose attitudes are favorable treat the infant in ways that encourage good adjustment. Parent-infant interactions are not characterized by the emotional tension and nervous ness that are normally present when parental attitudes are unfavorable. A relaxed mother, for example, usually produces more milk than one who is tense and nervous, and this helps the infant adjust to a new method of taking nourishment.
While maternal attitudes are, unquestionably, more important than paternal attitudes in determining the newborn infant's adjustment to postnatal life, paternal attitudes cannot be disregarded. Indirectly, they are important because of the effect they have on maternal attitudes. Directly, they are important because of the effect they have on the way fathers handle their newborn infants and on the way they assist in their care after they are brought home from the hospital. Fathers who are present during delivery usually have more favorable attitudes toward their children than do those who do not share the childbirth experience with their partners
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