Porpavai Kasiannan Hello, my name is Porpavai  Kasiannan. I’m a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist   based in Melbourne, Australia, but I also work  in India in an NGO which trains professionals   in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. I have  been working as a Psychiatrist in Child and   Adolescent Mental Health for the last 30 years.  I’ve also worked in the UK for a period of two   years in my career. So, today, I’m going to be  talking about “Principles of Parenting Infants.” We know that the birth of a baby stirs the  strongest emotions in adults, particularly   parents. Whenever we see an infant, there is a joy  in interacting with the infant and its parents,   in general, all over the world. And infants,  by their very presence, alter the parent,   their lives and relationships, to an  extent that they’ve never experienced   before. And parenting an infant is not an  easy job. It is a 24/7 job, which involves   a lot of nurturing, soothing, and attending  to the comforts and discomforts of the infant. Human infant is a little bit unique in  the animal kingdom or amongst mammals,   because it is totally dependent on their caregiver  for survival. Unlike other mammals who – that are   able to walk and move and seek their food  soon after birth, infants cannot do that   without the help of a competent caregiver, even  to seek the food that they need for survival. The United Nation estimates that around  385,000 babies are born each day in the world,   which is about 140 million a year, and each  one of these babies is unique and special. Although infancy is only a small proportion of  our human life period, it – but it is a period   that parents are most attentive too all around the  world. Infants engender feelings of responsibility   and solicitude in the adults who care for them.  They’re fun to observe, talk to, and play with. Although infants are innocent  and not malicious or deceiving,   they can make undeniable demands on their  caregivers. Infants develop rapidly,   transforming from helpless being to competent  and curious and frustrating and frustrated child. Why do we need to understand parenting infants?   We know that significant proportion of  new parents are concerned about their   infant’s development and are unsure if they are  parenting right. They have a lot of doubts about   whether the infant is getting enough food,  enough nutrition, enough sleep, and so on and so   forth. And approximately 30% of general practice  consultations concern child behaviour problems. Early onset and established behaviour problems  have lasting effects on children’s physical and   mental health, and most of these problems can be  identified in infancy. And parenting is a crucial   causal factor and also a maintenance risk factor  in development of these behavioural problems. Despite a lot of research and understanding  in different fields of studies, psychology,   anthropology, and sociology, parenting still  remains a most baffling subject to understand.   And parenting has changed over generations due to  the various biopsychosocial factors that impact   human life, the babies, and  their parents, and societies. What is infancy? Infancy defines the period of  life between birth and the emergence of language,   which is approximately one to – one and a half  to two years into childhood. Our generic term,   “infant” and “baby,” both have their  origins in language-related concepts.   The word “infant” derives from Latin “in” plus  “fans,” translated literally as “non-speaker,”   and the word “baby” shares a Middle English  root with “babble,” just second to babbling. Parenting responsibilities are greatest during  infancy, when the child is most dependent on   caregiving as the child has no ability to  survive alone. Most of this presentation,   the research that I have gathered the  information from is from the Western world or   the developed nations. There is little research  on this subject in the low and middle income   countries, although there are some, where it is  relevant, I have referred to those literature,   but most of this, I should say, that  is based on the Western literature. Let’s look at the brief history of parenting  infants. All cultures around the world recognise   infancy as a distinct stage of human  development, which is also the first   stage in human development. Speculation on this  subject dates back centuries to ancient Egypt,   the Code of Hammurabi, and pre-Socratic  Philosophers. Spartan child rearing   practices included reports on parenting, and  Greek Philosopher, Plato, theorised about the   significance of infancy. But in 19th Century,  Darwin’s observations about – of his own infant   son led to writing of “Biographical Sketch of  an Infant.” So, this gave a great impetus to   other infancy studies. Many baby biographies  followed, important one being Piaget in 1952,   whose writings and theorising refer chiefly  to the observations of his own young children.   And he developed the cognitive development  theory in children – infants and children. Before public health advanced preventing  infections and early deaths, parents might   have resisted emotional investment in their  infants due to the high infant mortality,   but that has changed now. Infant mortality  is reduced in majority of the cou – developed   countries, and it’s also reducing even  in the low and middle income countries. Prior to 1970s, parents were not viewed  as active shapers of their children’s   behaviour or personality. However, today,  advice on parenting infants is abundant   online and offline, which probably started with  “Dr Spock’s Baby and Child Care” book in 1946,   and “Your Baby & Child” by Penelope Leach in  1978. Currently, articles abound in periodicals   and online forums, along with magazines dedicated  to pregnancy and child-rearing, with huge amounts   of advertising materials targeted at  infants and parents in these magazines.