Ask the Expert: building a healthy attachment

Attachments develop during the first 18 months or so of a child’s life, starting with instinctual behaviours such as crying or clinging. Approximately around six months of age, infants start to anticipate parent’s responses to their distress and shape their own behaviours accordingly. The quality of attachment that an infant develops with their caregiver is mostly determined by parent’s attunement and responses to the infant’s needs.

Attachment develops as you respond to your baby’s needs in warm, sensitive and consistent ways. The way you respond to your child will lead to the development of attachment styles.

Hi Chervy, Attachment theory is one of the most popular and empirically grounded theories relating to parenting. Attachment refers to an emotional bond between a child and his or her parent, with its purpose being to make a child safe, secure and protected.