Contemporary research indicates that the short-term effects of perinatal complications such as low ...

Answer to q. 1

(1) Low-birth-weight babies are often difficult to love (due to their being relatively unattractive and hard to comfort), thus parents may become emotionally detached. Information and special training for parents is helpful. (2) Traditional hospital procedures allow only minimal contact with babies of low birth weight, but research now indicates that such babies become less irritable and more responsive (and also show quicker neurological development) if they are periodically handled and soothed by their mothers. (3) In general, stable and highly supportive homes foster healthy emotional attachments of low-birth-weight babies to their mothers and tend to preclude serious intellectual impairment or learning difficulties. (4) In general, more supportive and stimulating home environments help low-birth-weight babies overcome early intellectual deficits; less stimulating and supportive home environments tend to perpetuate intellectual deficits.

Answer to q. 2

B

Answer to q. 3

Developmentalists have suggested that the first six to 12 hours after birth are a sensitive period for emotional bonding, when the mother is especially ready to respond to and develop a strong sense of affection for her baby. In one study, half of a group of new mothers follow the then-traditional hospital routine: they saw their babies briefly after delivery, visited with them six to 12 hours later, and had half-hour feeding sessions every four hours thereafter for the remainder of a three-day hospital stay. The other mothers were in an extended contact group and were permitted five extra hours a day to cuddle their babies, including an hour of skin-to-skin contact that took place within three hours of birth.
In a follow-up one month later, mothers who had been allowed early extended contact with their babies appeared to be more involved with them and held them closer during feeding sessions than did mothers who had followed the traditional hospital routine. One year later, the extended-contact mothers were still more highly involved caregivers, and their one-year-olds outperformed those in the traditional-routine group on tests of physical and mental development.This doesn't mean that mothers who have no early contact with their newborns miss out on forming the strongest possible emotional ties to them. Later research has shown that early contact effects are nowhere near as significant or long-lasting as originally thought. Even though early contact can be very pleasant and can help a mother begin to form an emotional bond with her child, it is not essential to do so.
Based on this evidence, Britney may be a less involved caregiver as her baby develops than the extended contact mother, but it need not necessarily be that way.

Answer to q. 4

C

Above and beyond my expectations for this site