Evolutionary Psychology www.epjournal.net – 2007. 5(1): 102-183 ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Original Article Natural Parenting ― Back to Basics in Infant Care Regine A. Schön, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Email: [email protected] (Corresponding author) Maarit Silvén, Department of Psychology, University of Tampere, Tampere, Finland. Abstract: This review examines an age-old approach to parenting recently rediscovered in Western industrialized societies and known by names such as natural parenting, attachment parenting, and instinctive parenting. Its leading principle is utmost sensitivity to the child’s innate emotional and physical needs, resulting in extended breastfeeding on demand, extensive infant carrying on the caregiver’s body, and cosleeping of infant and parents. The described practices prevailed during the evolutionary history of the human species and reflect the natural, innate rearing style of the human species to which the human infant has biologically adapted over the course of evolution. An overview of research from diverse areas regarding psychological as well as physiological aspects of early care provides evidence for the beneficial effects of natural parenting. Cross-cultural and historical data is cited to reveal the widespread use of the investigated parenting style. It is concluded that the described approach to parenting provides the human infant with an ideal environment for optimal growth both psychologically and physiologically. It is yet to be determined how much departure from this prototype of optimal human parenting is possible without compromising infant and parental wellbeing. The review also invites a critical reevaluation of current Western childrearing practices. Keywords: natural parenting, attachment parenting, infant carrying, breastfeeding, bed sharing, prototype of optimal human parenting. ___________________________________________________________________________ Introduction Approaches to infant care have changed throughout history, and even at the present time there is considerable variation in the ways different cultures handle the care of their infants. Even within a particular culture different subgroups may vary greatly in their typical childrearing practices. Although socialization has always aimed to mold children to fit a particular society at a certain time in history, the fundamental needs of a young infant, especially during the first few months of life, are universally the same: adequate nutrition, sufficient sleep, and fulfillment of basic emotional needs. This leads to the question of Natural Parenting whether any of the known child-caring approaches succeeds better than the others in providing the young infant with an optimal environment for physical and psychological growth. Or to phrase the question differently: What is the ideal way to care for infants? An increasing number of parents and child-care experts in the industrialized West have come to view the prevalent Western approach to infant care as not sensitive enough to an infant’s innate needs. Instead, they have turned to a childrearing approach that considers the children themselves to be the best experts in defining their own needs (Frissell-Deppe, 1998; Granju, 1999; Hunt, 2001; Sears and Sears, 2001). By closely observing the infants’ communicative signs and by sensitively responding to their expressed needs, adherents of this parenting style believe they are laying the foundation for most favorable human development. Within this childrearing style, crying is always interpreted as a clear communication of a legitimate need, and the emotional demands of children are considered to be as valid as physiological ones. A further characteristic of this parenting approach is the belief that parents have an innate sensitivity to their child’s cues and an instinctive knowledge of the required responses. On a practical level this results in the infants being kept in close physical contact to their mothers for most of the day until the children start to become mobile, after which physical closeness gradually lessens. During the day the infants are carried on the caregivers’ bodies, in the front, back, or on the hip, frequently with the help of a carrying device, and at night they sleep next to their parents. The children are breastfed on demand for at least 2–4 years and the process of weaning is child-led. Cosleeping of parents and children may continue for years. This approach to parenting has been given many names: empathic parenting (Hunt, 2001), instinctive care (Granju, 1999), attachment parenting (Frissell-Deppe, 1998; Granju, 1999; Sears and Sears, 2001), natural nurturing (Natural Nurturing Network, n.d.), natural parenting, parenting from the heart (Hunt, 2001). Rather than advocating the application of a rigid set of guidelines, it calls for a parenting style geared to the individual child’s unique personality, which is thought to result in the best possible care for the infant. Although many aspects of natural parenting are already currently implemented by many Western parents in varying degrees, approaches that combine all of its elements are nonetheless rare in the contemporary West. The following account will describe the intricately related nature of mother–infant dyads that adhere to the principles of natural parenting, covering the age range from infancy to early childhood, with a focus on the first year of life. Different aspects of this dyad’s functioning will be elucidated, and benefits associated with this age-old approach to parenting will be examined. This paper is organized in such a way that arguments have been grouped together under four main headings, starting with information pertaining to our evolutionary past, then proceeding to discuss physiological data, and finally turning to issues of a mainly psychological nature, followed by a cross-cultural and historical overview of parenting practices. A “summary and conclusion” section at the end of the paper ties up all arguments and concludes the review. For an outline of the article’s structure and for an overview of the topics to be discussed, see Table 1. The approach taken in this work is multidisciplinary in nature and integrates a wide range of data from the fields of developmental psychology, evolutionary psychology, anthropology, pediatric medicine, physiology, and neuroscience. This paper further draws on data from both human and animal research, and both healthy and clinical populations, in order to use the broadest knowledge base possible for a comprehensive description of the current state of knowledge pertaining to optimal infant care in accordance with the innate needs of the human infant. Evolutionary Psychology – ISSN 1474-7049 – Volume 5(1). 2007. -103- Natural Parenting Table 1 Overview of Topics Discussed in This Paper ___________________________________________________________________________ ● Evolutionary Context ▪ Evolutionary Function of Crying ▪ Human Infants as “Carried Young” ▪ Cosleeping ▪ Breastfeeding ▪ Exterogestation ◦ Heartbeat and Uterine Sounds ◦ Movement Stimulation ◦ Swaddling ◦ Continuous and Multi-Sensory Stimulation ● Health Aspects of Natural Parenting ▪ Physiological Correlates of Crying ▪ Skin-to-Skin Care for Preterm Infants ▪ Touch Effects on Physiology ◦ Physical Growth ◦ Immunological Processes ◦ Psychosocial Dwarfism ▪ Thermal Regulation ▪ Orthopedic and Other Health Aspects of Infant Carrying ◦ Spinal Health ◦ Hip Development ◦ Characteristics of a Good Carrying Device ◦ Microenvironment Inside a Carrier ◦ Gastroesophageal Reflux and Otitis Media ▪ Infant Toilet Training―Elimination Communication ▪ Bed Sharing and SIDS ▪ Breastfeeding ◦ Benefits for the Child ◦ Benefits for the Mother ◦ On-Demand Feeding ◦ Weaning ● Psychological Correlates of Natural Parenting ▪ Mother–Infant Interaction and Attachment ◦ Sensitive Parenting and Secure Attachment ◦ Parental Responsiveness and Infant Crying ◦ The Role of Physical Proximity ◦ Natural Parenting, Sensitive Parenting, and Mother–Infant Attachment ▪ Dependence―Independence ▪ Brain Development―Physiology Meets Psychology ● Prevalence of Natural Parenting ▪ Infant Carrying ◦ Climatic Influences ◦ Specifics of Infant Carrying: Who, How, and With What? ▪ Cosleeping―Bed Sharing and Room Sharing ◦ Bed Sharing Across the Globe ◦ Bed Sharing in the Contemporary West ◦ Room Sharing Across the Globe ◦ Room Sharing in the Contemporary West ▪ Infant Feeding ◦ Wet Nursing ◦ Artificial Feeding ◦ The Industrial Revolution―Decline of Breastfeeding ◦ Feeding Practices Reassessed ◦ Current Situation ◦ Specifics of Breastfeeding Evolutionary Psychology – ISSN 1474-7049 – Volume 5(1). 2007. -104- Natural Parenting Before moving on to the substance of this paper, the reader should be made aware that the position presented in this paper, although drawing upon evolutionary information in discussing infant care, is distinct from many other evolutionary approaches to parenting (e.g., Hrdy, 1999; Salmon, 2005; Soltis, 2004; Trivers, 1974), in that it is primarily focused on both psychological and physiological wellbeing of the individual infant, whereas traditional evolutionary approaches to infant care have typically examined the topic at the level of the gene and been concerned with issues such as reproductive success, parent–offspring conflict, parental investment decisions, and the role of various infant behaviors (e.g., crying) as means to increase the infant’s reproductive fitness. The subjective wellbeing of the infant