Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father
The building of physiological self-regulation during bonding is a crucial developmental process based on early cardio-respiratory maturation. The mother’s role as a facilitator of this physiological maturation has been evidenced and recognized in many respects. Research in fathers, however, remains...
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doaj-54ae1d1067f34801bc4996415a4e69022020-11-25T01:40:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physiology1664-042X2019-08-011010.3389/fphys.2019.01117471278Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the FatherMartine Van Puyvelde0Martine Van Puyvelde1Martine Van Puyvelde2Laetitia Collette3An-Sofie Gorissen4An-Sofie Gorissen5Nathalie Pattyn6Nathalie Pattyn7Nathalie Pattyn8Francis McGlone9Francis McGlone10VIPER Research Unit, LIFE Department, Royal Military Academy, Brussels, BelgiumExperimental and Applied Psychology, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumClinical and Lifespan Psychology, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumExperimental and Applied Psychology, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumExperimental and Applied Psychology, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumCancer in Pregnancy, Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, BelgiumVIPER Research Unit, LIFE Department, Royal Military Academy, Brussels, BelgiumExperimental and Applied Psychology, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumMFYS-BLITS, Human Physiology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, BelgiumInstitute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United KingdomSchool of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United KingdomThe building of physiological self-regulation during bonding is a crucial developmental process based on early cardio-respiratory maturation. The mother’s role as a facilitator of this physiological maturation has been evidenced and recognized in many respects. Research in fathers, however, remains sparse which may be due to the belief that bonding is a physiological behavior reserved for a mother’s maternal instinct. In the current study we compared the impact of paternal and maternal nurturing stroking touch on infants’ physiological self-regulation in terms of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). We compared the impact of a 3-min stroking period (STROKING) with a pre-baseline (PRE-STROKING) and post-baseline (POST-STROKING) of 25 mothers and 25 fathers (unrelated to one another) on their infants, aged 4–16 weeks. We registered infant electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration to calculate infant RR-interval (RRI), respiration rate (fR) and (respiratory corrected) RSA (RSAcorr). Based on video-recordings, we analyzed the stroking speed. Infants’ RSAcorr significantly increased during and after stroking, no matter whether touch was delivered by fathers or mothers. This effect was mediated by both heart rate (HR) and respiration. However, respiratory mediation occurred later when delivered by fathers than by mothers. Both mothers’ and fathers’ stroking speed occurred within the optimal stimulation range of c-tactile (CT) afferents, a particular class of cutaneous unmyelinated, low-threshold mechano-sensitive nerves hypothesized to be involved in inter-personal bonding. The discussion builds on the idea to mitigate fathers’ doubts about their paternal capabilities and proposes a research agenda regarding the further examination of the role of nurturing touch and its underlying mechanisms within the development of infants’ physiological self-regulation. Finally, the importance of respiratory measurements in infant physiological research is emphasized.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2019.01117/fullmaternal-infant touchpaternal-infant touchstroking touchc-tactile afferentsrespiratory sinus arrhythmia |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Martine Van Puyvelde Martine Van Puyvelde Martine Van Puyvelde Laetitia Collette An-Sofie Gorissen An-Sofie Gorissen Nathalie Pattyn Nathalie Pattyn Nathalie Pattyn Francis McGlone Francis McGlone |
spellingShingle |
Martine Van Puyvelde Martine Van Puyvelde Martine Van Puyvelde Laetitia Collette An-Sofie Gorissen An-Sofie Gorissen Nathalie Pattyn Nathalie Pattyn Nathalie Pattyn Francis McGlone Francis McGlone Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father Frontiers in Physiology maternal-infant touch paternal-infant touch stroking touch c-tactile afferents respiratory sinus arrhythmia |
author_facet |
Martine Van Puyvelde Martine Van Puyvelde Martine Van Puyvelde Laetitia Collette An-Sofie Gorissen An-Sofie Gorissen Nathalie Pattyn Nathalie Pattyn Nathalie Pattyn Francis McGlone Francis McGlone |
author_sort |
Martine Van Puyvelde |
title |
Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father |
title_short |
Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father |
title_full |
Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father |
title_fullStr |
Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father |
title_full_unstemmed |
Infants Autonomic Cardio- Respiratory Responses to Nurturing Stroking Touch Delivered by the Mother or the Father |
title_sort |
infants autonomic cardio- respiratory responses to nurturing stroking touch delivered by the mother or the father |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
series |
Frontiers in Physiology |
issn |
1664-042X |
publishDate |
2019-08-01 |
description |
The building of physiological self-regulation during bonding is a crucial developmental process based on early cardio-respiratory maturation. The mother’s role as a facilitator of this physiological maturation has been evidenced and recognized in many respects. Research in fathers, however, remains sparse which may be due to the belief that bonding is a physiological behavior reserved for a mother’s maternal instinct. In the current study we compared the impact of paternal and maternal nurturing stroking touch on infants’ physiological self-regulation in terms of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). We compared the impact of a 3-min stroking period (STROKING) with a pre-baseline (PRE-STROKING) and post-baseline (POST-STROKING) of 25 mothers and 25 fathers (unrelated to one another) on their infants, aged 4–16 weeks. We registered infant electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration to calculate infant RR-interval (RRI), respiration rate (fR) and (respiratory corrected) RSA (RSAcorr). Based on video-recordings, we analyzed the stroking speed. Infants’ RSAcorr significantly increased during and after stroking, no matter whether touch was delivered by fathers or mothers. This effect was mediated by both heart rate (HR) and respiration. However, respiratory mediation occurred later when delivered by fathers than by mothers. Both mothers’ and fathers’ stroking speed occurred within the optimal stimulation range of c-tactile (CT) afferents, a particular class of cutaneous unmyelinated, low-threshold mechano-sensitive nerves hypothesized to be involved in inter-personal bonding. The discussion builds on the idea to mitigate fathers’ doubts about their paternal capabilities and proposes a research agenda regarding the further examination of the role of nurturing touch and its underlying mechanisms within the development of infants’ physiological self-regulation. Finally, the importance of respiratory measurements in infant physiological research is emphasized. |
topic |
maternal-infant touch paternal-infant touch stroking touch c-tactile afferents respiratory sinus arrhythmia |
url |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2019.01117/full |
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