Breanna Stewart

February 18, 2018

Attachment and Trust: Unit 2

When reading about attachment and trust, I was able to relate and connect with a lot that

was being said. I have been working in the infant room in my daycare for almost three years now

and have loved every moment of it. I think it is extremely rewarding to be able to give the infants

the love and comfort they need to get through the day. However, when the infants first start at the

daycare, they are usually suffering from separation. When babies are home with their mothers for

so long because of the ability of maternity leave, it makes it harder for them to separate when

they go back to work. This is true of both the mothers and their babies. Separating can be hard

for both because they have grown such an attachment with one and other. As stated in the book,

“Babies who are attached experience feelings when separation occurs.” (Gonzalez-Mena, 2017)

However, even though separation is hard to endure, it is important for infants to feel that

attachment in order to maintain their trust. In order for a parent to obtain attachment, you have to

pay attention to the infant and their cues in order to know what they are trying to communicate to

you. As stated in the article, “When you read and respond to a baby’s cues, you begin to form an

attachment with that child. Both you and the baby will experience this connection!” (Gillespie,

2011) Our infants are simply putting their trust in us to guide them in the right direction, and

doing them wrong can certainly cause mistrust as well.

By being the trusted one in our infant’s lives, they have developed the ability to come to

us for help, even without spoken words. Instead of words, infants use actions through their facial

expressions and crying to seek help. When an infant is uncertain of a certain object or needs
reassurance, they often look at us for a positive motion to go forward with their task. This

behavior was demonstrated in this article when Corriveau writes, “In line with this expectation,

infants who were exposed to an uncertainty-provoking object (a toy spider) were more

influenced in their approach to the toy by the mother’s expressive signals when compared with

those of a stranger (Zarbatany & Lamb, 1985).” (Corriveau, 2009) This study really proves that

infants need the reassurance of their caregiver to do things before they proceed with the action.

This is a perfect display of trust between the caregiver and the infant. This type of behavior in

the infant can also occur when strangers are present. When this happens, the infant is often more

attached to their caregiver than normal because of their uncertainty of the stranger.

When thinking about trust and mistrust with caregivers, we often start at birth and go

from there with the following stages. However, not every infant follows the normal routine of

conception, birth, and nourishment with the same mother. What about our infants that are

adopted? This can create complications because they are no longer following the same

mother/caregiver with each step of development. As Honig states, “It is my assertion that

adoption brings greater than average risk of interactive misattunement in the mother/infant

relationship, even if the infant is relinquished immediately after birth, and that the mother and

the infant’s initial differing states create the potential for problematic attachment relationships

and, thus, increased risk for the development of long-term psychological adjustment issues for

the child.” (Honig, 2014) I found this to be very eye opening because we do not often think about

different situations that can occur, like adoption. Unfortunately, there can be many obstacles with

attachment and trust, along with different psychological issues down the road. However without

the choice of adoption, children could be at more risk with the uncertainty of where they may

end up without such a service as adoption agencies. With these services, there is more of a
possibility for our children in such systems to have a chance to feel that attachment and trust that

is necessary for their growth and development.

 References

Corriveau, K. H., Harris, P. L., Meins, E., Fernyhough, C., Arnott, B., Elliott, L., & ... de

Rosnay, M. (2009). Young Children’s Trust in Their Mother’s Claims: Longitudinal

Links with Attachment Security in Infancy. Child Development, 80(3), 750-761.

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01295.x

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2017). Child, family, and community: Family-centered early care and

education. Pearson.

Gillespie, L., & Hunter, A. (2011). Creating Healthy Attachments to the Babies in Your Care.

YC: Young Children, 66(5), 62-63.

Honig, S. B. (2014). Adopted Children: The Risk of Interactive Misattunement Between the

Infant and Adoptive Mother in the Child Relinquished at Birth. Adoption

Quarterly, 17(3), 185-204. doi:10.1080/10926755.2014.891547