Maternal sensitivity in rural Andean and Amazonian Peru.

In the current study, we observed 12 mothers with a 4-21-month-old infant for around 3 hours during their daily activities such as feeding, bathing, and soothing in the multiple-caregiver cultural contexts of rural Peru. Overall, sensitivity levels were high, with an average of 7.33 (out of 9), and seven of the twelve mothers scoring in the high range (scores 7-9), and the remaining five in the good-enough range (scores 5-6). A qualitative description of sensitive responsiveness is presented through representative examples. Notable patterns were flexibility in caregiving routines that allow for very child-centered maternal behavior; mothers' ability to multitask, combining household and agricultural work with high sensitive responsiveness to their infants' signals; the presence of multiple caregivers that ensured that the infants were well attended when mothers were temporarily unavailable; and what seems to be a culturally normative tendency to be sensitively responsive to very young children.

Maternal sensitivity in rural Andean and Amazonian Peru.

In the current study, we observed 12 mothers with a 4-21-month-old infant during their daily activities for around 3 h per dyad, focusing on daily caregiving practices such as feeding, bathing, and soothing in the rural multiple-caregiver cultural contexts of the Andean and Amazonian parts of Peru. Overall, sensitivity levels were high, with an average of 7.33 (out of 9), and 7 out of the 12 mothers scoring in the high range (scores 7-9), and the remaining 5 in the good-enough range (scores 5-6). In-depth descriptions of mother-infant interactions show that these high sensitivity levels reflect mothers' ability to multitask, combining household and agricultural chores with high sensitive responsiveness to their infants' signals. The presence of multiple caregivers seemed to allow mothers to make sure the infants were well attended when they were temporarily unavailable but combined with quick renewed availability if the infant seemed to need maternal proximity.