A Psycho-Cultural Approach to Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics

Talking Pediatrics refers to the welfare of the newborn, taking into consideration his behavior and his development. It is worth to emphasize and mention that we cannot talk of Pediatrics without having a glance to how the mother of the newborn survived the pregnancy period and how the birthchild was handled. These elements play an important role to figure out how the growth of the newborn will be. The development and behavior of a newborn is affected positively or negatively by the behavior of the mother, the one we think does not live in a sole network but in a socio-cultural network which impacts on the birth child, the health of the pregnant woman and the pediatrics considerations in general. A mother, who spent a pregnancy period in harmony with the family (society, environment) is expected to go through well-balanced parturition, in the absentia of infections or programmed complications. This is why a global approach is envisaged in the care to be given to the newborn in order to attain successful pediatrics management. Let us consider a nutrition aspect picking the case of breast-feeding, for example. We may notice that, not only the milk that comes out of the mother’s breast is crucial for the baby. On a psychological point of view, the fact that a baby remains in the chest of the mother, sucking the breast even if no milk is coming out, increases the attachment and the affectivity of the newborn to the mother. This is an expression of libido of Sigmund Freud. While advising and campaigning on the breastfeeding for a newborn, the emphasis should not be put only on the chemical or biological nutriment but also on the psychic nutriment, which contribute to the total care and development of this newborn and build his behavior tomorrow. In our research on psychological accompaniment to complicated childbirth’s, we considered the problem of childbirth as a node containing several facets, which facets could be treated in synergy between several specialties. It is this holistic view of the problem that, amongst other things, has led us to believe that the mother as well as the newborn does live not in a social and cultural vacuum, but rather in a network of social and cultural relations. This society waits from the newborn, in terms of potential, will occupy status and plays roles in this society and change the environment. We believe that culture plays a proper role in the development and behavior of the newborn, future adult.