SEXUALITY IN THE INFANT AND NEONATE (BIRTH TO TWO YEARS): PAIR-BONDING AND SEX REHEARSALS
The earliest or haptic phase of sexual and affectional development comprises body proximity and skin contact, the sensuous closeness of mother and infant through holding, clinging, and cuddling. It foreshadows the later phase of adolescent and adult sexual pair-bonding in which sensuous skin contact and bodily proximity are paramount. Between infancy and adulthood, childhood rehearsals with toys, games, and peers are part of the gradual evolution of “affectional systems”.
The haptic phase begins during childbirth, especially with an awake and participating mother who experiences the delivery of the infant and sees and holds the child immediately thereafter. Hormonal changes during childbirth lower the threshold for maternal behavior when appropriate perceptual stimulation is present. When the father is also present in the delivery room, is prepared to participate in childbirth, and is able to see and hold the newborn child, a three-bond of mother, father, and infant is established. Soon thereafter, the initial sensual/haptic phase is expanded to include the oral phase of development in connection with feeding and thumb- and finger-sucking. With shared parenting, both the mother and the father are associated with the haptic-oral phase of infant development, although breast-feeding inevitably establishes a strong mother-child attachment.
The oral stage of infantile sexuality, set forth in psychoanalytic theory, is now seen as part of a broader developmental phase of pair-bonding and attachment, which includes all aspects of body contact, cuddling, clinging and touching, and also rhythmic rocking movements. The “contact-comfort” accompanying sucking and feeding in early life has an importance for socioemotional and sociosexual development beyond that of obtaining adequate nutrition and oral gratification. As the infant develops, clinging and cuddling is expanded to include soft and furry blankets and toys. Bonding to a favorite blanket, stuffed animal, or doll is part of normal development in infancy and childhood. The comfort of a soft cloth or toy, thumb-sucking, and rhythmic rocking are the customary stimuli employed during physical or psychological stress and also to facilitate the release into sleep.
The appearance of prolonged attachments and of falling in love customarily occurs at a later age in relation to social experiences and cognitive development. The child’s love affair with the opposite sex parent, the Oedipal phase of psychoanalytic theory, is the first rehearsal of falling in love.
The importance of the haptic, contact-comfort phase of neonatal development is shown in studies of human infants separated from their caretakers and in experimental primatology.
Monkeys reared in isolation develop severe social and sexual disabilities. In later life, these monkeys continue to be isolated; rocking, huddling and self-clasping, self-mouthing, and self-aggression are common. Play and grooming responses, which are part of normal social interaction with peers, are absent. In adulthood, males reared in isolation are unable to approach and appropriately mount a normal female. Similarly, a female reared in isolation is unable to reciprocate with appropriate positioning even when approached by an experienced, normal male. Both male and female monkeys reared in isolation are deprived of the neonatal, infant and childhood rehearsals of pair-bonding and of social and sex play with peers. The sociosexual impairments stemming from early isolation also affect maternalism in the female monkey who reproduces after being artificially inseminated. The social-isolate mothers either are indifferent to the offspring or brutalize them. The human infant is rarely, if ever, subjected to the pervasive isolation imposed on infant monkeys. The relative deprivation of institutional care following parental separation, or from birth, in the first two years of life, affects social, emotional, and intellectual development adversely. In rare instances of child abuse without parental separation, statural, behavioral, and psychosexual impairments occur. The “affectionless character,” described by Bowlby, illustrates the long-term consequences of the absence of early parent-infant bonding on affectional development. The effect of pair-bonding impairments or disruptions on psychosexual development currently is speculative. Clinical investigative studies of individuals with sexual disabilities suggest that the loss of a parent or grandparent in the critical early years may disrupt the psychosexual developmental program.
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