The PAPMI® Program: reinforcing baby’s emotional development

Psychologist Patricia Sánchez Merino talks about the PAPMI® Program and its benefits.

As much as babies do not speak and are not able to think from concepts as complex as those handled by adults, it is clear that their mental world is very complex and dynamic.

In fact, in many respects, paying attention to their emotional well-being is as important as looking after their physical integrity. It is not for nothing that during the first months of life, the psychological structure that will later become their identity and personality develops.

To learn more about how mental health professionals can contribute to the emotional development of infants and the establishment of proper attachment bonds between them and their parents, we interviewed Patricia Sanchez Merino, a psychologist from the University of California, Berkeley, we interviewed Patricia Sánchez Merino, psychologist and part of the management team at Centro TAP.a clinic located in Madrid. This psychological assistance center develops an intervention program specially designed to ensure that the emotional and affective development of the little ones is optimal during their first months after birth, a key stage.

The PAPMI® Program: ensuring good psychological development in the baby

Patricia Sánchez Merino is a psychologist and co-founder of Centro TAP, an organization that has as one of its flagship services the application of the PAPMI® Program to families raising a baby. This program, an acronym for Programa de Apoyo Psicológico P/Materno Infantil, is a set of practices and meetings with the parents and the baby that aims to ensure that the emotional development of the little ones is adequate, and the bond of attachment established with the father and mother is also adequate.

In this interview, Patricia tells us the details about this form of psychological intervention and accompaniment.

What is the main objective of the PAPMI® Program?

PAPMI® (Programa de Apoyo Psicológico P/Materno Infantil®) is a Social Innovation project that covers a basic need for babies and families who are users of the Program: it provides babies with comprehensive care from 0 to 18 months of life, with the aim of promoting, at this very specific stage of their development, a healthy emotional architecture so that they grow up with the capacity for emotional regulation, skills to cope effectively with their environment, and secure attachment.

Moreover, PAPMI® provides direct support and accompaniment to families. Parenting is a time when moms and dads need specific knowledge to ensure that they are doing the best for their babies, so the Program is a support that helps them understand and know what to expect about the development of their children, in order to incorporate the best formula to enhance their strengths.

The aim is to ensure that this moment of life, which is parenting during these vital months, is enjoyed in a safe manner.

On what type of scientific research lines is PAPMI® based?

Neuroscience studies on early brain development have shown that the socio-affective experience affects brain architecture. Speaking of the importance it has on neurological connections, the first thousand days in a baby's life and the interaction he has with his reference figures in this period are very important.

On the other hand, studies on emotional development have also documented that children who have developed emotional security by the time they reach the second year of life have more social competence when they enter the school environment, and fewer problems in regulating their emotions. As in the case of brain development, we know that this emotional security, this secure attachment, is rooted in the quality of the interactive experience in the first year of life with the most significant people.

PAPMI® has been supported by studies since 1990, and from the results that report its impact on the quality of attachment, it has been detected that the greater the follow-up of the service, the greater the proportion of children with secure attachment. The proportion of PAPMI® children with secure attachment is significantly higher than the proportion in the general population used as a baseline.

What are the different phases in which this program is implemented?

PAPMI® runs for 6 quarterly sessions, from 3 to 18 months of age. At the beginning of the program there is a first introductory visit with moms and dads, a little before the baby is 2 months old, to get to know the family structure and provide them with personalized information. We know that each family and their babies are different, so each process is totally adjusted to the people who use the service.

In this introductory visit, we evaluate with the moms and dads how the areas involved in the performance of the new role are, providing the necessary support so that the experience is exciting, confident and positive.

In each quarterly visit with the family we address aspects related on the one hand with the physical development of the baby to assess their developmental milestones, but we will also stop to evaluate the emotional and relational well-being of the child.

In addition, throughout these sessions, fathers and mothers have a space to share how parenting is going and to have advice from us on all aspects related to the parenting process (sleep, food, tantrums...). The program is of support and accompaniment, so it pays special attention to the care and welfare of moms and dads, as well as the other members of the family unit.

Although newborns do not yet speak, there are ways by which they are learning to communicate with the people who are watching over them. Does the program help to enhance this communicative bond early and consistently, or does it focus only on creating the right environment in which the baby can develop well?

The TAP Center team knows the importance of building a secure attachment at an early age. This is built from birth. Although babies do not have a developed phonetic language, their ability to communicate needs is evident from the moment of birth.

Parents are therefore the translators of these expressed needs, which is why PAPMI® is key to providing babies with the security they need for their development. When we explain what they need, we build the communicative link they need to grow up stable.

As I said, there is a direct relationship between how we relate to our babies and the development of their emotional brain, so undoubtedly the foundations of children's relational skills are developed in the early relationships with the mother or father. Intervention and counseling in the first 18 months of a baby's life will enable healthy emotional development.

Why is it important to know the attachment dynamics that are established between baby and parents during the first months of infant development?

There is a lot of information on attachment building, but not all of it is reliable or indicates how secure attachment bonds are actually built. So many parents following certain guidelines believe they are doing it correctly, which is not necessarily the case...

That is why, from the program, knowing how attachment is built, the types that exist and the consequences that one or the other have, will provide families with prevention keys in stages after the first 18 months of age, achieving greater emotional well-being for babies who have gone through PAPMI®.

We know the importance of attachment, since children with secure attachment explore their environment without fear, establish bonds of trust, regulate themselves emotionally, have greater autonomy, are children who express their needs, have greater self-confidence, etc.

One of the most interesting aspects of attachment between babies and mothers is the emotional bond created by breastfeeding. What do we know about this process?

In order to build a bond that provides infants with the construction of a secure attachment, families have not necessarily had to choose breastfeeding as the primary feeding option after birth. We know that secure attachment is built for the safety, security and translation of the baby's needs.

The important thing then is not what we do, but how we do it. We must be sure to meet the baby's emotional needs regardless of the feeding option after birth.

Is it possible to help the baby develop well emotionally without becoming totally exhausted in the process? Being on the baby's back day and night can be exhausting.

Indeed, PAPMI® provides families with the necessary keys to avoid becoming exhausted in the parenting process. When we do not know the strategies and resources necessary to "make the process easy", the level of exhaustion is much higher than when we know these skills.

PAPMI® is a program that reduces the uncertainty of parenting, and therefore prevents fatigue in this sensitive period, as well as significantly preventing stress and anxiety.