Spontaneous movements, motor milestones, and temperament of preterm‐born infants: Associations with mother–infant attunement

Abstract

Preterm-born infants and their mothers are at higher risk of showing less attuned interactions. We sought to identify characteristics of preterm-born infants associated with the attunement of mother-infant interactions at the corrected ages of 3-4 months, looking specifically at motor behaviors. We focused on infants' spontaneous movements, achievement of motor milestones, and temperament, which at this young age is often manifested via movement. Sixty preterm-born infants (Mdn gestation age in weeks = 33, 57.38% male, corrected age Mdn = 14 weeks, interquartile range = 13-16) and their mothers participated. Independent observers rated mother-infant attunement, infants' spontaneous movements, and infants' achievement of motor milestones.Mothers reported infant temperament. We found infants' smooth and fluent movement character and continual fidgety movements were associated with better attunement in terms of higher maternal sensitivity and non-intrusiveness and higher infant responsiveness and involvement. Unexpectedly, infants' achievement of motor milestones was not significantly associated with mother-infant attunement, and maternal reports of infants' higher soothability were associated with lower | 413 LEV-ENACABetal.

Applicability of a Novel Attunement Instrument and Its Relationship to Parental Sensitivity in Infants With and Without Visual Impairments

“…The quality of such interactions, largely determined by how sensitive parents are and the capacity to coordinate their behavior to the infant’s needs, henceforth attunement, contributes to a myriad of developmental outcomes that span from physical to social cognitive and emotional areas ( van der Voort et al, 2014 ; Vacaru et al, 2019 , 2020 , 2022 ). Attunement entails reciprocal behaviors of the mother and her infant, comprising maternal sensitive behaviors such as attention to infant’s cues, correct and timely interpretation and appropriate responsiveness ( Bornstein and Manian, 2013 ; Lev-Enacab et al, 2022 ). It has been shown that mother’s attunement fosters infant’s developing abilities to share their inner states, and to later achieve intersubjectivity and better communication skills ( Stern et al, 1985 ; Užgiris, 1991 ; Nicely et al, 1999 ), and joint engagement ( Legerstee et al, 2007 ; Rollins and Greenwald, 2013 ).…”

“…To assess dyadic attunement in mother–infant interactions, it is crucial to identify the behaviors that are typically displayed by infants. These behaviors can vary according to the infant’s temperament and/or context and it has been shown that parents can attune to their infant’s spontaneous movements from an early age ( Lev-Enacab et al, 2022 ). Parental attunement to their infants’ behaviors is marked by sensitive responding to the infant’s cues (i.e., mirroring and emotional availability).…”