ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how some families experienced parenting infants with birth defects. The concept of assault to the parent’s self-esteem or narcissistic injury is the theoretical framework used to understand the intrapsychic and the external, reality-based aspects of parental reactions. While the experience of giving birth to an infant with a defect is similar to other painful experiences, the naturally heightened wish for renewal and self-fulfillment inherent in the expectation of a new life creates special issues. Home visits began in the first month of the infant’s life and continued monthly during the infant’s first six months and then bimonthly. Mother–infant interactions improved significantly after the second surgical repair. The tasks of parenting a child with a defect are similar to those of parenting a normal child, requiring empathy, learning the infant’s cues, organizing and expanding alert periods, and supporting the infant in the gradual development of a tolerance for frustration.
