ABSTRACT
Infants are not the buzzing mass of confusion they were once thought to be. Understanding of infant neurological and behavioral organization has given us a road map of infant states, infant behavior, nonverbal cues, and cycles of attention/nonattention that prove to be very helpful to the infant’s caregiver (Barnard, 1981; Brazelton, 1962, 1973; Brazelton, Koslowki, & Main, 1974; Parmelee, 1964). With this new understanding of infant behavior, parents can be equipped to care for their infant with an informed competency. Parental guidance incorporating the information that developmental and biological scientists have advanced in the past 25 to 30 years is a necessary part of the health professional’s agenda of care. In this chapter we present a structure for providing guidance to parents that is highly supportive of parents, parenting, and parent-child interaction.
