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Below you will find an overview and resources pertaining to one of nine of the Evolved Nest's Components. Click below to return to the Evolved Nest's Components' Overview page to see the full list and to click on the other eight components' pages.
MULTIPLE NURTURERS, also called multiple responsive caregivers, refers to responsive caregivers other than mothers (e.g., fathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles).
WHY ARE MULTIPLE NURTURERS IMPORTANT?
Babyhood. During the period of rapid brain development that is the first years of life, babies and young children need rapid attention to their needs for comfort, affection and play. It’s too much for one person, so our species evolved a village of care (Hrdy, 2009).
After Babyhood. We all need mentors as we move into new areas of life. We need people who listen, who care about us, who offer welcomed advice. We benefit too from mentoring others with the wisdom we have developed from experience.
WHAT PARENTS CAN DO:
Gather a community of support for you and your child (ideally other adult relatives are supportive of helping provide the evolved nest).
WHAT EVERYONE CAN DO:
· Be a nurturing presence in the lives of others. We all need nurturing throughout life.
· Step in to help families and children.
· Support policies that support children’s wellbeing.
· Support actions that demonstrate nurturing in the neighborhood and workplace.
Support Groups for Evolved Nest Parenting:
One of the nine components of our Evolved Nest...
Listen to Darcia Narvaez and Mary Tarsha discuss the importance of Allomothers as one of nine components of our Evolved Nest.
How Were We Intended To Nurture Babies?
One of the nine components of our Evolved Nest is Allomothers. Allomothers, alloparents or other nurturers support mother during pregnancy and throughout the life of the child, providing responsive care, positive touch and play.
MULTIPLE ALLOWMOTHERS, also called multiple responsive caregivers, refers to responsive caregivers other than mothers (e.g., fathers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles).
About Allomothers
Let’s remember our species’ history of allomothering
Nurturing babies and children is not just about mothers—it is a community responsibility our species evolved.
Our species’ evolved nest for young children includes soothing perinatal experience, extensive breastfeeding and touch, responsiveness from the primary caregiver and a small group of other caregivers (allomothers), social support for mother and child, positive social climate and self-directed free play in the natural world with multi-aged playmates.
What do allomothers do? They take the baby when mom needs a break. They carry, rock and play with the child. They also take care of mundane tasks like making supper, going shopping, doing the laundry. You name it. They are the buffer for the mother-child, father-child relationship.
It used to be the tradition in most every society to have a “lying in” period for mom and new baby where women of the community wait on the mother, giving her nutritious teas and foods that promote breastfeeding and healing. They took care of everything in the household so she could stay in her bed and give her full attention to bonding with and breastfeeding baby. Here is a recent description of the lying-in experience.
Why did our species evolve to expect allomothers? Our infants are born much more immature than any hominid, with only 25% of adult brain volume at full-term birth (40-42 weeks) (Trevathan, 2011). As a result, till about 18 months babies need exterogestation, an external womb experience (kept calm and optimally aroused during rapid brain growth; Montagu, 1968). That’s 24/7 and physical presence and responsive care. Whew. Hence, allomothers. In one observational study of the Efe people (Morelli et al., 2014), anthropologists noted that older toddlers spent less than 40% of their time with their mothers. Although mother was around, the rest of the time the child chose to be with allomothers—those who were sensitively responsive to the child.
Several studies and reviews have shown that allomothers benefit mother and child. Mothers with more support are more responsive to their children (Hrdy, 2009). They are not so stressed and so can meet the needs of their child in the moment. This leads to secure attachment in the child (Crockenberg, 1981). Children whose mothers have more social support display less externalizing behaviors and have greater social skills (Koverola et al. 2005; Pianta & Ball, 1993).
In societies like the USA, structural supports are minimal. Day-to-day, new parents typically are not supported by extended family members (who live far away), by community members (most of whom are working at places banning children), nor by policies or institutions (e.g., postnatal daily nurse or helper visits as in other countries). For example, in the Netherlands, their maternal leave policy has nurses coming by for hours daily in the first days after birth. They check on mom and baby and help them adjust.
Worse, most working mothers are not provided paid maternal leave at all and instead feel they have to go back to work within a few weeks after birth, requiring them to send their babies to day care, most of which are suboptimal, especially for baby needs (Belsky, 2001). Also, see hereand here.
Too many mothers are unable to mother because of the need to work to get food on the table. Allomothers too are busy with other things and discourage from helping mothers. Both mothers and allomothers are discouraged from mothering in societies where promoting “baby independence” and preventing “baby spoiling” are forceful myths, part of the “taboo on tenderness” that has been characteristic of US life for decades (Suttie, 1943). DIY parenting is the new normal.
DIY mothering is not working. Maternal suicide is on the rise and the leading cause of maternal death in the first year after a child’s birth. This is a clear sign that mothers are not receiving the support they need. We could take what is working around the world and provide it for every mother: nonmedicalized birthing practices, extensive breastfeeding support (which helps with mother’s mental health too), paid parental leave, nurse visits, laundry and meal services; paternal leave; babies to work. Ultimately, we need to return to what helped our species survive and thrive: cooperative child raising (rather than mother-child isolation). Let’s return to mothers, grandmothers and families living closely together to support mother and child and enjoy life together.
Kindred articles on Paid Parental Leave and Paid Family Leave
Kindred articles and videos on Worksite Breastfeeding-Friendly Law
Darcia's blog posts on Allomothers
Allomothers: We Were Never Meant To Mother Alone
The “What Happened To Mothering” Series:
MORE:
Allomothers: Our Evolved Support System for Mothers
The Science and Art of Mothering
Killing Mothering, the Center of Society
Enjoy the full 24-part podcast series!
BOOKS
Narvaez, D., & Bradshaw, G.A. (2023). The Evolved Nest: Nature’s Way Of Raising Children And Creating Connected Communities. North Atlantic Books.
Topa, Wahinkpe (Four Arrows), & Narvaez, D. (2022). Restoring the kinship worldview: Indigenous voices introduce 28 precepts for rebalancing life on planet earth. North Atlantic Books.
Narvaez, D., Four Arrows, Halton, E., Collier, B., Enderle, G. (Eds.) (2019). Indigenous Sustainable Wisdom: First Nation Know-how for Global Flourishing. New York: Peter Lang.
Narvaez, D. (Ed.) (2018). Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential. Palgrave-MacMillan.
Narvaez, D. (2016). Embodied morality: Protectionism, engagement and imagination. Palgrave-Macmillan.
Narvaez, D., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller, L., Gettler, L., & Hastings, P. (Eds.). (2016). Contexts for young child flourishing: Evolution, family and society. Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D. (2014). Neurobiology and the development of human morality: Evolution, culture and wisdom. Norton.
Narvaez, D., Valentino, K., McKenna, J., Fuentes, A., & Gray, P. (Eds.) (2014). Ancestral landscapes in human evolution: Culture, childrearing and social wellbeing. Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D., Panksepp, J., Schore, A., & Gleason, T. (Eds.) (2013). Evolution, early experience and human development: From research to practice and policy. Oxford University Press.
PHILOSOPHICAL GROUNDING
Narvaez, D. (2021). Species-typical phronesis for a living planet. In M. De Caro & M.S. Vaccarezza (Eds.), Practical Wisdom: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives (pp. 160-180). London: Routledge.
Narvaez, D. (2020). Ecocentrism: Resetting baselines for virtue development. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 23, 391–406. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10677-020-10091-2
Narvaez, D. (2019). Humility in four forms: Intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and ecological. In J. Wright (Ed.), Humility (pp. 117-145). In book series, Multidisciplinary perspectives on virtues (N. Snow & D. Narvaez, series eds.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D. (2018). Ethogenesis: Evolution, early experience and moral becoming. In J. Graham & K. Gray (Eds.), The Atlas of Moral Psychology (pp. 451-464). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Narvaez, D. (2017). Evolution, childrearing and compassionate morality. In Paul Gilbert (Ed.), Compassion: Conceptualisations, Research and Use in Psychotherapy (pp. 78-186). London: Routledge.
Narvaez, D. (2017). Are we losing it? Darwin’s moral sense and the importance of early experience. In. R. Joyce (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Evolution and Philosophy (pp. 322-332). London: Routledge.
Narvaez, D. (2016). Goodness, survival and flourishing. Philosophical News, 12, 56-64.
Narvaez, D. (2016). Baselines for virtue. In J. Annas, D. Narvaez, & N. Snow (Eds.), Developing the virtues: Integrating perspectives (pp. 14-33). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
CHILD RAISING AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT: EMPIRICAL PAPERS
Narvaez, D., Gleason, T., Tarsha, M., Woodbury, R., Cheng, A., Wang, L. (2021). Sociomoral temperament: A mediator between wellbeing and social outcomes in young children. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 5111. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742199
Tarsha, M. S., & Narvaez, D. (2021). Effects of adverse childhood experience on physiological regulation are moderated by evolved developmental niche history. Anxiety, Stress & Coping. DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2021.1989419
Gleason, T., Tarsha, M.S., Narvaez, D., & Kurth, A. (2021). Opportunities for free play and young children’s autonomic regulation. Developmental Psychobiology, 63 (6), e22134. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22134
Narvaez, D., Gleason, T., Tarsha, M., Woodbury, R., Cheng, A., Wang, L. (2021). Sociomoral temperament: A mediator between wellbeing and social outcomes in young children. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 5111. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.742199
Narvaez, D., Wang, L., Cheng, A., Gleason, T., Woodbury, R., Kurth, A., & Lefever, J.B. (2019). The importance of early life touch for psychosocial and moral development. Psicologia: Reflexão e Crítica, 32:16 (open access). doi.org/10.1186/s41155-019-0129-0
Narvaez, D., Woodbury, R., Gleason, T., Kurth, A., Cheng, A., Wang, L., Deng, L., Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, E., Christen, M., & Näpflin, C. (2019). Evolved Development Niche provision: Moral socialization, social maladaptation and social thriving in three countries. Sage Open, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019840123
Narvaez, D., Wang, L, & Cheng, A. (2016). Evolved Developmental Niche History: Relation to adult psychopathology and morality. Applied Developmental Science, 20(4), 294-309. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2015.1128835
Gleason, T., Narvaez, D., Cheng, A., Wang, L., & Brooks, J. (2016). Wellbeing and sociomoral development in preschoolers: The role of maternal parenting attitudes consistent with the Evolved Developmental Niche. In D. Narvaez, J. Braungart-Rieker, L. Miller, L. Gettler, & P. Hastings (Eds.), Contexts for young child flourishing: Evolution, family and society (166-184). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D., Gleason, T., Wang, L., Brooks, J., Lefever, J., Cheng, A., & Centers for the Prevention of Child Neglect (2013). The Evolved Development Niche: Longitudinal effects of caregiving practices on early childhood psychosocial development. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28 (4), 759–773. Doi: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.07.003
Narvaez, D., Wang, L., Gleason, T., Cheng, A., Lefever, J., & Deng, L. (2013). The Evolved Developmental Niche and sociomoral outcomes in Chinese three-year-olds. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 10(2), 106-127.
REVIEW PAPERS of Child Raising and Human Development
Tarsha, M., & Narvaez, D. (2024). Humanity’s evolved developmental niche and its relation to cardiac vagal regulation in the first years of life. Early Human Development. 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106033
Tarsha, M., & Narvaez, D. (2023). The Evolved Nest, oxytocin functioning and prosocial development. Frontiers in Psychology, 14:1113944. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1113944
Narvaez, D. (2022). First friendships: Foundations for peace. Peace Review Special Issue on Friendship, Peace and Social Justice, 34(3), 377-389. https://doi.org/10.1080/10402659.2022.2092398
Gleason, T., & Narvaez, D. (2019). Beyond resilience to thriving: Optimizing child wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 9(4), 60-79. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v9i4.987
Narvaez, D. (2019). Evolution and the parenting ecology of moral development. In D. Laible, L. Padilla-Walker & G. Carlo (Eds.), Oxford handbook of parenting and moral development (pp. 91-106). New York: Oxford University Press.
POLICY and PRACTICE related to Wellbeing and Child Raising
Narvaez, D., & Duckett, L. (2020). Ethics in early life care and lactation practice. Journal of Human Lactation. 36, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890334419888454
Narvaez, D., & Witherington, D. (2018). Getting to baselines for human nature, development and wellbeing. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6 (1), 205-213. DOI: 10.1037/arc0000053
Narvaez, D., & Noble, R. (2018). The notion of basic needs. In D. Narvaez (Ed.), Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (pp. 1-15). New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Noble, R., Kurth, A., & Narvaez, D. (2018). Measuring basic needs satisfaction and its relation to health and wellbeing. In D. Narvaez (Ed.), Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (pp. 17-49). New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Noble, R., Kurth, A., & Narvaez, D. (2018). Basic needs satisfaction and its relation to childhood experience. In D. Narvaez (Ed.), Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (pp. 51-89). New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Kurth, A., & Narvaez, D. (2018). Basic needs satisfaction and its relation to socio-morality capacities and behavior. In D. Narvaez (Ed.), Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (pp. 91-133). New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Narvaez, D. (2018). Basic needs and fulfilling human potential. In D. Narvaez (Ed.), Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (pp. 135-161). New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Narvaez, D. (2018). Epilogue: The future of basic needs fulfillment. In D. Narvaez (Ed.), Basic needs, wellbeing and morality: Fulfilling human potential (pp. 163-166). New York: Palgrave-MacMillan.
Narvaez, D. (2017). Getting back on track to being human. Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 4(1), March 2, 2017. Online free: DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/ijps.v4i1.151
Narvaez, D., Gettler, L., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller-Graff, L., & Hastings, P. (2016). The flourishing of young Children: Evolutionary baselines. In Narvaez, D., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller, L., Gettler, L., & Harris, P. (Eds.), Contexts for young child flourishing: Evolution, family and society (pp. 3-27). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D., Hastings, P., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller-Graff, L., & Gettler, L. (2016). Young child flourishing as an aim for society. In Narvaez, D., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller, L., Gettler, L., & Hastings, P. (Eds.), Contexts for young child flourishing: Evolution, family and society (pp. 347-359). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D. (2015). Understanding flourishing: Evolutionary baselines and morality. Journal of Moral Education, 44(3), 253-262.
Narvaez, D., & Gleason, T. (2013). Developmental optimization. In D. Narvaez, J., Panksepp, A. Schore, & T. Gleason (Eds.), Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development: From Research to Practice and Policy (pp. 307-325). New York: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D., Panksepp, J., Schore, A., & Gleason, T. (2013). The value of using an evolutionary framework for gauging children’s well-being. Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development: From Research to Practice and Policy (pp. 3-30). New York: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D., Panksepp, J., Schore, A., & Gleason, T. (2013). The Future of human nature: Implications for research, policy, and ethics. In D. Narvaez, J., Panksepp, A. Schore, & T. Gleason (Eds.), Evolution, Early Experience and Human Development: From Research to Practice and Policy (pp. 455-468). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gleason, T., & Narvaez, D. (2014). Child environments and flourishing. In D. Narvaez, K. Valentino, A., Fuentes, J., McKenna, & P. Gray (Eds.), Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: Culture, Childrearing and Social Wellbeing (pp. 335-348). New York: Oxford University Press.
Narvaez, D., Gray, P., McKenna, J., Fuentes, A., & Valentino, K. (2014). Children’s development in light of evolution and culture. In D. Narvaez, K. Valentino, A., Fuentes, J., McKenna, & P. Gray (Eds.), Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution: Culture, Childrearing and Social Wellbeing (pp. 3-17). New York: Oxford University Press.
INDIGENOUS WISDOM
Kurth, A., Kohn, R., Bae, A., & Narvaez, D. (2020). Nature connection: A 3-week intervention increased ecological attachment, Ecopsychology, 12(2), 1-17. DOI: 10.1089/eco.2019.0038
Narvaez, D., Four Arrows, Halton, E., Collier, B., Enderle, G., & Nozick, R. (2019). People and planet in need of sustainable wisdom. In Narvaez, D., Four Arrows, Halton, E., Collier, B., Enderle, G. (Eds.), Indigenous sustainable wisdom: First Nation knowhow for global flourishing (pp. 1-24). New York: Peter Lang.
Narvaez, D. (2019). Original practices for becoming and being human. In Narvaez, D., Four Arrows, Halton, E., Collier, B., Enderle, G. (Eds.), Indigenous sustainable wisdom: First Nation knowhow for global flourishing (pp. 90-110). New York: Peter Lang.
Four Arrows, & Narvaez, D. (2016). Reclaiming our indigenous worldview: A more authentic baseline for social/ecological justice work in education. In N. McCrary & W. Ross (Eds.), Working for social justice inside and outside the classroom: A community of teachers, researchers, and activists (pp. 93-112). In series, Social justice across contexts in education (S.J. Miller & L.D. Burns, Eds.). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Narvaez, D. (2013). The 99%–Development and socialization within an evolutionary context: Growing up to become “A good and useful human being.” In D. Fry (Ed.), War, Peace and Human Nature: The convergence of Evolutionary and Cultural Views (pp. 643-672). New York: Oxford University Press.
ADULT NESTEDNESS and INDIGENOUS/KINSHIP WORLDVIEW
Narvaez, D. (2024). Returning to evolved nestedness, wellbeing, and mature human nature, an ecological imperative. Review of General Psychology, 28(2), 83-105. https://doi.org/10.1177/1089268023122403 (text at ResearchGate)
Narvaez, D. (2024). What happened to species-typical human nature? In L. Sundararajan & A. Dueck (Eds.), Values and Indigenous psychology in the age of the machine and market: When the gods have fled (pp. 25-48). Palgrave-Macmillan. (text at ResearchGate)
Tarsha, M.S., & Narvaez, D. (2023). The developmental neurobiology of moral mindsets: Basic needs and childhood experience. In M. Berg & E. Chang (Eds.), Motivation & morality: A biopsychosocial approach (pp. 187–204). APA Books.
Narvaez, D., & Tarsha, M. (2021). The missing mind: Contrasting civilization with non-civilization development and functioning. In T. Henley & M. Rossano (Eds.), Psychology and cognitive archaeology: An Interdisciplinary approach to the study of the human mind (pp. 55-69). London: Routledge.
Narvaez, D. (2019). Moral development and moral values: Evolutionary and neurobiological influences. In D. P. McAdams, R. L. Shiner, & J. L. Tackett (Eds.), Handbook of personality (pp. 345-363). New York, NY: Guilford.
Narvaez, D. (2019). In search of baselines: Why psychology needs cognitive archaeology. In T. Henley, M. Rossano & E. Kardas (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive archaeology: A psychological framework (pp. 104-119). London: Routledge.
Tarsha, M. S., & Narvaez, D. (2022). Effects of adverse childhood experience on physiological regulation are moderated by evolved developmental niche history. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 35(4):488-500. DOI: 10.1080/10615806.2021.1989419
Gleason, T., & Narvaez, D. (2019). Beyond resilience to thriving: Optimizing child wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 9(4), 60-79. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v9i4.987
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