Maternal Affection

Give your baby plenty of love and nurturing.
Maternal affection may help your child grow into a more compassionate and resilient adult.

How do you produce a loving, kind and cooperative child? Hold and cuddle your infant often, avoid spanking and other negative forms of physical contact, breast-feed and respond quickly and warmly to their cries.

While a child’s personality comes down to both nurture and nature, research suggests that good parenting may help protect against high levels of stress. Though you may have heard that it is better to let babies cry it out, research suggests just the opposite.

By anticipating your infant’s needs before he gets upset, you teach your baby that the world is a calm and secure place, which can help him or her feel safe and possibly even less anxious.