ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some of the theories and characteristics of the nature of the early relationship between a mother and her baby in relation to attachment behaviour. It examines understanding of maternal–infant attachment and the factors that may affect this, and discusses the implications for midwifery practice. The original idea of maternal–fetal attachment in humans developed from ethnological data from a variety of animal observations, which suggested that there is a species-specific maternal behaviour prior to, during and immediately after birth that leads to the mother's attachment to her offspring. Attachment between the mother and baby may begin prior to conception when the mother is contemplating pregnancy, and it develops during pregnancy, when the woman is coming to terms with being a mother. However, in a four-year follow-up of a postpartum sample, Cogill S.R et al. found that children of postpartum depressed mothers were significantly delayed in terms of cognitive development compared with controls.
