Thursday, March 7, 2019

TOP TAKEAWAYS: ATTACHMENT AND GRIEF

Attachment

The first trimester is monumental in a pregnancy. This is where the mother starts bonding with the baby, futures are being imagined, and announcements are being made. When a mother first finds out she’s pregnant, she starts developing an attachment to the baby and a new bond is made. The mother may experience the attachment more intensely, compared to the father, as the baby grows inside of her (that is, the mother is the gestational parent). Because of this strong attachment, the mother may feel the grief more strongly than the father. “Perhaps the mother's attachment to her child is the strongest bond in humans. This relationship has two unique characteristics. First, before birth, the infant gestates within the mother's body, and second, after birth, she ensures his survival while he is utterly dependent on her” (Goldbach et al., 1991).