ABSTRACT
Cain and Cain used the term a "replacement child" to describe an infant who is consciously conceived by either one of the parents to replace another child who has died a short time before. Clinical work with women during pregnancy clearly shows that bonding and attachment during pregnancy depends on the woman's emotional state. Some women are aware of their conception and feel strongly attached to the embryo during the earliest weeks. Women often visit the grave or the place where the baby's ashes have been interred, or scattered, to tell the dead baby that they are pregnant again. Others find it impossible to consider relinquishing the ashes, instead storing them in a place in their home. The birth of the "penumbra baby" stirs a myriad of emotions. Invariably, the mother struggles to separate the two babies in her mind as she mothers her new infant.
