Newborn Group

As a small group receiving education, our newborn group consists of infants aged between 6 and 18 months. Understanding that each baby has unique feeding and sleeping schedules, as well as individual differences, we have two teachers dedicated to meeting the needs of the infants in our newborn group, ensuring their development in a nurturing and supportive environment.

The daily meal plan for our newborn group includes all healthy and nutritious food items from the daily food pyramid, such as vegetables, fruits, and proteins. Additionally, great care is taken in the preparation of food to avoid adding any allergenic foods that infants in this age group might react to. Furthermore, unlike other age groups in our school, our newborn group also has a snack session at 10:00 AM.

Moreover, our newborn group participates in three specialized classes tailored to their age:

Tuesday: ORF
Wednesday: GYMNASTICS
Friday: VISUAL ARTS / CERAMIC

“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” 
― Dr. Maria Montessori

Attachment

Attachment Theory in psychology refers to an individual's tendency to seek closeness from another person and feel secure when that person is present. Attachment, especially during the first two years of life, typically refers to the positive bond between a child and a primary caregiver, often the mother. According to social psychologists such as Bowlby and Ainsworth, the need for warm, close relationships with others is a fundamental aspect of human nature. The need for attachment observed in both humans and primates is a bio-social process aimed at protecting newborns from environmental dangers.

According to some attachment theorists, the quality of an individual's relationships and expectations from others in adulthood are determined by the attachment relationship they formed with their caregiver during childhood. Warm feelings between a caregiver and a child, especially providing comfort and support during times of fear and stress, form the basis of attachment. Attachment is a mutual relationship where both parties meet each other's needs. A newborn baby is entirely dependent on caregivers for feeding, cleaning, warmth, protection, and overall survival. However, caregivers, whether mothers, fathers, or other caretakers, do not perceive caring for the child as merely a duty but also derive happiness and satisfaction from it. The bond between them and the child strengthens through interactions, fostering attachment. Several behavioral characteristics of infants influence the formation of this attachment. The behaviors that infants exhibit in their interactions with their parents and caregivers during the first nine months of life are called attachment behaviors. Sucking, cuddling/reaching out, eye contact, smiling, and crying are the main attachment behaviors of infants.

Attachment Behaviors:

Sucking: Infants not only suck to feed but also seek comfort by sucking on their mothers even when they are not hungry. In modern societies, fulfilling this need is not always feasible, so infants may resort to sucking their fingers or pacifiers to satisfy this urge.

Cuddling/Reaching Out (Contact): All mammalian species have reflexes that drive their offspring to face their mothers and touch them. For example, monkeys climb onto their mothers immediately after birth. Human infants also instinctively position their bodies loosely and pliably to facilitate easy holding by the carrying adult, rather than remaining rigid. Some infants, due to certain hereditary brain damages, cannot exhibit this characteristic, leading them to be described as less affectionate infants by the adults who hold them.

Eye Contact: Even very young infants seek eye contact with their mothers and become upset if there is no response from them, often resorting to crying and fussiness as a reaction.

Smiling: Infant smiles are generally delightful to humans, and many people try to make babies smile. Within the first month after birth, babies respond to loud sounds by smiling. Discovering this, adults speak loudly to babies. From about five weeks onwards, visuals become more important than sounds. Babies smile at faces, especially moving ones. Even a moving mask can elicit smiling behavior in infants. From around three months onwards, babies begin to smile when approached by people they have bonded with, such as parents, indicating a significant aspect of attachment. These smiles are significant rewards for parents and other caregivers, encouraging them to spend more time with the infant.

Crying: Infants cry when they are hungry, cold, in pain, or in distress, which often disturbs adults. Crying serves as a signal for infants to seek attention and assistance from adults. According to a claim, infants' cries vary qualitatively depending on whether they are hungry, cold, or in pain. If a child suddenly and intensely cries, adults assume it is due to pain. A slow, gradually rising cry is perceived as a signal of hunger, needing a diaper change, or tiredness.

Some theorists (Bowlby) suggest that a child's attachment develops through successive stages:

First Attachment Stage (Birth to 3 Months):
Babies respond with similar reactions to everyone. They enjoy listening to human voices and looking at human faces. Bowlby considered the impact of the human face on babies, particularly the genetic predisposition that leads to the "social smile," one of the strongest attachment behaviors, instead of other visual stimuli. According to Bowlby, laughter supports crying because it maintains closeness with the caregiver. Indeed, laughter itself carries qualities that support loving and nurturing interaction.

Second Attachment Stage (3-6 Months):
The baby's social responses become more selective, and familiar people become visually striking to them. Noticing strangers and starting to fear them are other features of this stage.

Third Attachment Stage (6 Months to 3 Years):
This stage involves the emergence of "separation anxiety." Although the child does not want to be separated from the attachment figure, they can explore the environment by using the caregiver as a secure base. Scary stimuli such as loud noises prompt the child to abandon exploration and seek physical contact with the mother. Similarly, when a small child is sick or tired, the need for proximity to the mother outweighs the need for exploration, thus Bowlby emphasizes that the attachment system becomes active at various levels of arousal. From the age of one, children begin to form a general idea of the caregiver's availability and whether they will meet their needs, marking a significant milestone in the attachment process.

Fourth Attachment Stage (3 Years to the End of Childhood):
The child can now take into account the caregiver's plans and intentions and can begin to speculate why they left them alone. Certainly, being alone is one of the greatest fears of human life, and understanding the significant biological reasons behind it is important for understanding adult behavior. Bowlby attached special importance to the effects of separation. If separation is not prolonged, the bond with the mother is quickly re-established, but otherwise, the child may lose hope in all people, even in adulthood, and cannot form deep attachments with others. Such individuals only use others to fulfill their own goals but never truly love them.

Attachment Types:

The common belief in mother-child relationships is that the mother is sacrificial, attentive, and always ready to help her child. However, Ainsworth and her colleagues (1978) distinguished three different attachment styles and therefore three different types of relationships between a child and a mother:

Secure Attachment:
Infants with this attachment style develop a secure bond with their mothers and show less distress in their absence and comfortable communication with a stranger when left alone with them. It's noted that the slight distress these infants experience upon their mothers' return quickly subsides, and they return to exploring the environment and engaging in play.