Developmental changes in early mother-infant face-to-face communication

Sixteen primiparous mother-infant dyads were videotaped during a naturalistic face-to-face interaction weekly, from age 1 to 14 weeks, in two conditions: infant held vs. not held by mother. Developmental changes of face-to-face communication were observed within individual cases. Results showed a significant increase between week 4 and week 9, depending on the dyad, and a divergence of individual developmental trajectories around 2 months. After this age, one group of dyads showed trajectories that continue to increase, while another group showed trajectories that peak and then begin to decrease. After the first month, the duration of face-to-face communication was significantly longer when the infant was not held rather than held and, in the latter condition, significantly longer for girls. Findings suggest that face-to-face communication context interacts with the infant's age and sex in affecting mother-infant communication.