When the Breast Says No The Missing Link: A Case Study

This paper addresses the important questions about the impact of deep emotional issues rooted in the mother’s early childhood on her pregnancy, breastfeeding, bonding with her baby and the baby’s development. Drawing on a study case described in the author’s book, Working with Parents and Infants: A mind-Body Integration Approach (2007), it explores the mind-body disconnection in conditions such as mastitis, highlighting aspects of breastfeeding never addressed before. Whilst the body’s wisdom is largely an uncharted resource in healthcare practitioners’ work with mothers, counseling, and psychotherapy, the story told by the “somatic narrative”—gesture, posture, prosody (patterns of stress and intonation in language), sound, and movement—is arguably more significant than the story told by the words. The language of the body reveals implicit processes and their links with early trauma and dynamics with attachment figures. A mind-body, mother-baby relationship-focused approach, utilizing mindfulness abilities, provides mothers with a vital avenue of self-knowledge and change. It also mitigates the intergenerational transmission of developmental trauma and prevents breastfeeding difficulties.