Early mother-child relationship. The Copenhagen model of early preventive intervention towards mother-infant relationship disturbances.

The development of interactive patterns in the first year of life has been studied in healthy mother-infant pairs and in infants whose mothers have psychiatric or psychosocial problems, interfering with their relation to the child. During the first 3 months a relationship develops in healthy mother-infant pairs characterized by an intimate interchange of signals and responses between mother and child. The baby develops a basic pattern of social relating. During the next months the baby begins to expect the mother to fulfil it's wishes and still the mother adapts to and supports the baby's expanding capacities and needs. A beginning sense of self and not-self develops. At 10-12 months the infant is able to move around trying to examine everything within range. At this age the infant senses that there exist other wills and minds than it's own. The child looks at the mother and reads her expressions for "yes", "no", and "maybe". The mother can stop or encourage her child by verbal and body signals. At 12-18 months the child has developed a secure attachment apt to protect the child against later adversities. The development during the first year of life may be seriously disturbed if the mother cannot adapt to and support the baby's signals and needs. Relationship disturbances in the first year of life may be related to maternal or infant problems: Low birth weight babies, irritable babies with low stimulus tolerance and babies with withdrawal reactions following maternal alcoholism or drug abuse during pregnancy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)