Infancy and toddler years are the age for social and emotional development, which depend upon attachment, separation and autonomy/mastery.
Attachment is the specific affective bond that begins when the baby is in the process of becoming fully mature in the mother’s womb (in utero). It continues to develop through childhood years between children and caregivers and is bidirectional.
During the initial period, parents try to understand their infant’s needs. Through trial and error, they gradually learn effective responses to the infant’s needs for food, rest or social interaction.
Separation is the process within by which a child evolves a separate identity of his/her own self. So, it’s an internal process occurring within the growing child. E.g. when the child is put to bed alone at night or when parents leave the infant with a relative or baby-sitter.
Autonomy is when the child achieves behavioral independence. And this begins with self-consoling repetitive behavior of the growing child.
Repetitive behaviors in children usually occur between 6 – 10 months of age. Such behaviors evolve from sucking to rhythmic behavior for example ‘Body Rocking’ and ‘Head Banging’. A child is angry or frustrated play a vital role in the development of repetitive behaviors.
Body rocking involves rhythmic forward and backward swaying of the trunk occurring most frequently in a sitting position seen during infancy.
Head Banging is the rhythmic hitting of the head against a solid surface like a crib mattress. It occurs in approx. 5 – 20% of children during infancy and toddler years.
Breath-holding spells often begin as early as 2 months of age but are generally seen between 6 – 18 months. It is a provoking event causing anger, frustration and suddenly the child starts to cry. This crying stops at full expiration when the child becomes breathless and pale.Thumb sucking and Nail-biting: In the 2nd year of life, kids use favored processions such as any cloth and repetitive rituals to cope up with bedtime or stressful situations. By 4 – 5 years, these habits gradually disappear.
Parents should not punish such children or criticize/ scold them in any manner or make an issue from it. Instead, they should identify and notice such developmental issues and bring it to the notice of the treating doctor.
Homeopathy treats the cause of disordered emotional development like stress, lonely feeling, fear of darkness, fear of ghosts, being alone which is usually behind such behaviors. Homeopathy has effective remedies in controlling and treating such abnormal behavior forms. Homeopathy aids in normal emotional development of children.
From the age of 18 months to 3 years, the growing child begins to develop autonomy and starts separating from care-givers. At this age, they do things opposite of their own desire or what has been requested to do, called negativism. The inability to express their autonomy, leads to frustration and anger. Some children show their frustration and defiance with aggression or resistance like biting, crying, kicking, throwing objects, hitting others and head banging. Such physically aggressive behavior is called Temper Tantrums.
It during 2nd to 3rd year of life that this behavior reaches to the peak and then gradually subsiding in between 3 to 6 years of age as the child learns to control his negativism and complies to the requests of others.
Homeopathic remedies treat the temperamental issues in children and promote normal emotional development. Hence, the child becomes more in control of his self.
Deviating child’s attention from the immediate cause and changing the environment can reduce the tantrum. Parents should be calm, loving, firm and consistent in their approach and such behavior should not allow the child to take advantage for gaining things. Parents can be given counseling by the treating doctor, whenever it is needed as they play a major role in development of young child.
Pre-school years are from 18 months till the child grows to 5 years. It is an exciting period of transition from a time of limited language ability and sensory-motor engagement with the surrounding environment to mastery of communication, high motor control, expanding cognitive capacities and heightened ability to empathize with others.
As parents meet the child’s basic needs, they need to be emotionally and physically available to pre-schools ways and support them. Ideally, they should be observant, responsive, sensitive, flexible, affectionate and emphatic. Pre-school should be viewed an opportunity for socialization and building confidence, and not an academic preparation.
Most common problems, encountered by parents are misbehavior by a child in a public place. Simply removing the child from the situation with a brief age-appropriate explanation is the best course of action.
Homeopathy has a proven safety record over the ages and hence widely used for developmental issues like misbehavior. Homeopathy helps in overcoming the misbehavior in children and thus the child does not repeat the same.
Homeopathy is considered as ideal treatment for babies, infants, toddlers and pre-school and school children and adolescents. The number of children taking homeopathic treatment has risen over the years thanks to the countless, innumerable benefits.