But an infant is very vulnerable to the emotional process and the change in family routine associated with parental divorce. This chapter is designed to help you feel what an infant experiences during parental divorce. It will help you in making parenting plans if you are able to put yourself in your baby's shoes. Patterns and connections are being made that will influence behavior for the rest of the child's life. When a baby is born a miracle happens-a new life comes into being, a life that has wonderful, amazing possibilities.
Abilities change and develop as the infant grows.
The first year of life is critical because the baby's brain is developing rapidly. Patterns and connections are being made that will influence behavior for the rest of the child's life. People can change, but feelings and behaviors that are established early in life are difficult to modify. The baby does not understand what is going on in his or her life, but he or she senses what is happening. Many developmental experts believe that the ability to form trusting relationships is established in the first two years of life.