ABSTRACT
For babies, birth means a fundamental change in their whole psychological organization, predicated initially on the bodily changes wrought by the caesura of birth. In utero they were supplied with all the necessities for growth and survival through the placenta and umbilical cord. Now all that has changed: they breathe through their lungs, they will very soon feed by sucking, and excrete through bowels and bladder. None of the reflex patterns organizing these functions can have been fully exercised before. The kind of birth a baby and mother experience has an impact on what happens next, and can help set up a good or less good bonding process.
