Kowakare: A New Perspective on the Development of Early Mother–Offspring Relationship

The mother–offspring relationship has components of both positivity and negativity. Kowakare is a new concept introduced to explain an adaptive function of the negativity in the early mother-offspring relationship. Kowakare is the psycho-somatic development of the relationship as the process of accumulation in the otherness of offspring. Early human Kowakare has two frameworks, biological inter-body antagonism and socio-cultural allomothering compensating the antagonism. Some features of feeding/weaning, parental aversion to offspring’s bodily products, and transition from dyad to triad relationship (proto–triad relationship) in tactile play are discussed. Early human Kowakare is promoted by allomothering with the nested systems of objects/persons/institutions as interfaces between mother and offspring. Kowakare makes mother–offspring relationship a mutually autonomous and cooperative companionship

Comparison of Japanese and Scottish mother-infant intersubjectivity : resonance of timing, anticipation, and empathy during feeding

Feeding involves communication between mothers and infants and requires precise synchrony in a special triadic relationship with the food. It is deeply related to their intersubjectivity. This study compared the development of mother-infant intersubjectivity through interactional synchrony in feeding between 11 Japanese and 10 Scottish mother-infant dyads, observed at 6 and 9 months by video. Japanese mothers were more deliberate in feeding at an earlier age, whereas Scottish mothers were significantly more coercive than Japanese mothers at an earlier age. Japanese mothers brought the spoon to infants with a pause to adjust the timing of insertion to match their infants' readiness, whereas this pause was not observed in Scottish mothers. Isomorphic mouth opening between mothers and infants was observed. This empathic maternal display is an important element of intersubjectivity in infant feeding that differened between Scottish and Japanese mothers. Scottish mothers' mouth opening always followed their infants' mouth opening, but about half of Japanese mothers preceded their infants. Further, the mouths of Scottish infants and mothers opened almost at the same time as spoon insertion. In contrast, Japanese mothers' mouth opening did not co-ocurr with the insertion but was close to spoon arrival, a subtle but important difference that allows for greater infant autonomy. The time structure of Scottish mother-infant interactions was simpler and more predictable at 9 months than in Japan, where the structure was more variable, likely due to a stronger regulation by Scottish mothers. In conclusion, Scottish mother-infant intersubjectivity is characterised as more maternally reactive and mother-centered, whereas Japanese mother-infant intersubjectivity is characterised as more maternally empathetic and infant-centered. Cultural differences in intersubjectivity during feeding between Japan and Scotland are further discussed in relation to triadic relationships and parenting styles

Embodied inter subjective engagement in mother-infant tactile communication: a cross-cultural study of Japanese and Scottish mother-infant behaviors during infant pick-up

This study examines the early development of cultural differences in a simple, embodied, and intersubjective engagement between mothers putting down, picking up, and carrying their infants between Japan and Scotland. Eleven Japanese and ten Scottish mothers with their 6- and then 9-month-old infants participated. Video and motion analyses were employed to measure motor patterns of the mothers' approach to their infants, as well as their infants' collaborative responses during put-down, pick-up, and carry phases. Japanese and Scottish mothers approached their infants with different styles and their infants responded differently to the short duration of separation during the trial. A greeting-like behavior of the arms and hands was prevalent in the Scottish mothers' approach, but not in the Japanese mothers' approach. Japanese mothers typically kneeled before making the final reach to pick-up their children, giving a closer, apparently gentler final approach of the torso than Scottish mothers, who bent at the waist with larger movements of the torso. Measures of the gap closure between the mothers' hands to their infants' heads revealed variably longer duration and distance gap closures with greater velocity by the Scottish mothers than by the Japanese mothers. Further, the sequence of Japanese mothers' body actions on approach, contact, pick-up, and hold was more coordinated at 6 months than at 9 months. Scottish mothers were generally more variable on approach. Measures of infant participation and expressivity indicate more active participation in the negotiation during the separation and pick-up phases by Scottish infants. Thus, this paper demonstrates a culturally different onset of development of joint attention in pick-up. These differences reflect cultures of everyday interaction

An infant‐led approach to complementary feeding is positively associated with language development

The timing and strategy with which parents first introduce their infants to solid foods may be an important predictor of subsequent developmental outcomes. Recent years have seen a decline in the prevalence of traditional parent‐led feeding of soft, puréed food and a rise in the prevalence of infant‐led complementary feeding. Although there has been some research espousing the benefits of infant‐led complementary feeding for improving food fussiness and self‐regulation, there has been little exploration of this approach that may impact on other developmental outcomes in children. The current study explores whether aspects of the infant‐led approach, specifically the child eating unaided and consuming finger foods and eating with the family, are related to child language outcomes. One hundred thirty one parents of children aged 8–24 months completed questionnaires about their approach to complementary feeding, their current feeding practices, their child's experiences with family foods and child language comprehension/production. The findings suggest that an approach to complementary feeding which promotes infant autonomy in feeding (i.e., eating finger foods rather than puréed foods) and consuming more family foods is related to more advanced child language production and comprehension. Specifically, the prevalence of eating family foods mediated the relationship between eating unaided at the onset of the complementary feeding period and later language outcomes. This study is the first to find a significant relationship between different approaches to introducing solid foods and child language outcomes and these findings highlight the potential for different complementary feeding approaches to influence behaviour beyond mealtimes

ニンシンキ ニ オケル ボシ ノ セッショク ト シテノ タイドウ : タイドウ ニッキ ニ オケル タイドウ オ アラワス オノマトペ ノ ブンセキ カラ

妊婦が胎動をどのような感覚としてとらえているか。本研究では,胎動そのものの変化に対して,妊婦がどのような感受性を示すかを検討する。妊婦の胎動への感受性の指標として,妊娠中に記録された胎動日記において,胎動を表現するために用いられたオノマトペに着目した。妊婦38 名から得られた胎動日記1032 を分析した結果,妊娠期には,実にさまざまなオノマトペが用いられていることがわかった。オノマトペに用いる音が豊富であり,語基の変形だけでなく,臨時のオノマトペの使用も認められた。また,胎動を表すオノマトペと胎児への意味づけとの関連について週齢変化を検討した結果,3 つの時期に整理することができた。第一期(～ 28 週)は胎動のオノマトペが多様性を帯び,第三期(35 ～ 40 週)に向けて,オノマトペの多様性より,胎児への意味づけの多様性が増すように変化することを見いだした。最後に,母子の身体接触としての胎動という観点から考察した。How sense does a pregnant woman have at fetal movement? The present study examined how pregnant women (N=38) described fetal movement in order to consider women\u27s perceptions of relationships with their fetuses. Especially, it focused on how onomatopoeia they use to express their sense at fetal movement. Participants kept a pregnancy diary about fetal movement. Analysis of the 1032 diary entries found out that pregnant women used very different kinds of idiomatic onomatopoeia, and also produced temporary onomatopoeia. Further, it also found out that in each of three periods (e.g., before 28th week, 29th – 34th week, and 35th – 40th week), pregnant women used different onomatopoeia for fetal movement. Finally, this paper discussed the meaning of the fetal movement as touch between fetus and mother