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Bonding: The Powerful Parent-Infant Connection

Column Editor, Jeane M. Rhodes, Ph.D.

Editor's Note:

Jeane Rhodes completed her Ph.D. in Pre and Perinatal Psychology in May, 1997 through the Union Institute, Cincinnati, Ohio. Her training includes infant and child birth refacilitation and Kalfian sandplay. She resides with her husband in Lakewood, Colorado, where she keeps busy with grandchildren, gardening, teaching at Red Rocks Community College, and a holistic counseling practice incorporating birthwork, sandplay and yoga.

Introduction to the Column

By Jeane Rhodes, Ph.D

This column will address many aspects of the powerful parent/infant connection which is commonly referred to as "bonding." The parent/infant connection may begin with thinking about and planning for conception. Parents can deepen that connection during pregnancy, through communication with their unborn child. After birth, immediate contact can be a wonder: The intense love experienced when gazing into the eyes of a newborn child should not be missed. All these opportunities for connecting provide the foundations for family relationships and also constitute a prototype for other deep human relationships.

However, intense human love is not limited to those who were fortunate enough to experience all these beginning steps. No one step, if missed, will destroy all possibility for connection. Each step is an important experience in and of itself and has the potential to contribute to the overall power of the connection.

This column will specifically explore the research that has focused on the possibility of sensitive periods for reinforcement of the parent/infant connection. It will also address the issues raised by those who have protested that bonding theory and research have been too readily accepted. While there are numerous critics (Eyer, 1992, 1994; Goldberg , 1983, 1984; Harmon, 1981; Lamb, 1983; Myers, 1984) most acknowledge that the work of pediatricians John Kennell and Marshall Klaus is to be applauded for its role in bringing about more humane birthing practices. We will include reviews of their criticisms in future columns.

The next update will contain a review of the literature leading up to the early 1970's when the work of Kennell and Klaus began to receive major attention. Opposing views will be represented in the hope of bringing balance and clarity to the issue of "sensitive periods" in early human development. We will also focus on healing ruptures which occur in parent/infant bonding. What happens when a prenatal connection is not made, or when parents are not available to connect at birth? Because we are complex beings capable of repatterning and healing early wounds, all is not lost for us when beginnings are not ideal, or even when they are traumatic.

I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions regarding this column. Contact me at: drjeane@comcast.com.

References

Eyer, D.E. (1992). Mother-infant bonding: A scientific fiction. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Eyer, D.E. (1994). Mother-infant bonding: A scientific fiction. Human Nature, 5(1), 69-94.

Goldberg, S. (1983). Parent-infant bonding: Another look. Child Development, 54(6), 1355-1382.

Goldberg, S. (1984). Parent-infant bonding: Another look. Annual Progress in Child Psychiatry & Child Development, 17-57.

Harmon, R. (1981). Perinatal influences on the family: Some preventive implications. Journal of Preventive Psychiatry, 1(1), 132-139.

Lamb, M. (1983). Early mother-neonate contact and the mother-child relationship. Journal of Child Psychology, Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines. 24(3), 487-494.

Myers, B. (1984). Mother-infant bonding: The status of this critical period hypothesis. Developmental Review, 4(3), 240-274.