Early bonds that are warm and close contribute to positive values and positive adult behavior, less disease and mental illness, and more ability to give and to relate to others in a healthy way.

During the early years, the baby's brain is growing millions of connecting neurons, sending messages to the cells about the environment. Hormones are the mediators of these messages and they can be hormones which stimulate relaxation or those which stimulate hyper-vigilance or stress; if experiences are chronic, these responses become "normal" for the child. Even in utero, this kind of groundwork is being laid. A baby can come into the world expecting it to be a scary, unsupportive place where fight-or-flight is the normal response to everything, or alternatively, that the world welcomes him or her and is a wonderful, relaxing place to be.

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