Developmental changes in mother-infant face-to-face communication: birth to 3 months

This study documented the growth of the earliest form of face-to-face communication in 16 mother-infant dyads, videotaped weekly during a naturalistic face-to-face interaction, between 1 and 14 weeks, in 2 conditions: with the infant in the mother's arms and with the infant semi-reclined on a sofa. Results showed a curvilinear development of early face-to-face communication, with a significant increase occurring between Week 4 and Week 9 depending on the dyad. After 2 months, trajectories diverged into 2 groups: I whose duration of face-to-face communication continued to increase and I whose duration peaked and then began to decrease. After the 1st month, the duration of face-to-face communication was significantly longer when the infant was on the sofa rather than in the mother's arms. In the latter condition, during the 3rd month, girls spent a significantly longer time than boys in face-to-face communication. These findings suggest that context (infant being held vs. not being held) interacts with the infant's age and sex in affecting mother-infant communication.