A new article by Dr. Solomon (she is very well known, did a wonderful study a few years ago about the effects of early overnight visitations with infants and the effect it had on mom's bond - she worked with Dr. Wallerstein in the past) counters the father's rights position that alternating overnights is best for infants - it is a wonderful article that recognizes the research that shows infants prefer the mother - even with other caretakers significantly involved - but she says something that bothers me: "Children are not born knowing who their parents are - they cannot be said to be attached at birth. They are equipped at birth or soon after/ however, with a number of perceptual mechanisms and species-characteristic learning biases that hep to identify or select attachment figures and organize their behavior to parents appropriately. The exact nature of the underlying learning mechanisms have yet to be studied in detail, but there is general agreement that attachment bonds develop from familiarity with particular individuals in the context of predictable interactions (Waters, Kondo-Ikemura, Posada, & Richters, 1991)." Judith Solomon and Zeynep Biringen "Another Look at the Developmental Research - Commentary on Kelly and Lamb's 'Using Child Development Research to Make Appropriate Custody and Access Decisions for Young Children" Family Court Review, Vol 39, No. 4, Oct 2001 Pg. 356 My questions: 1. Who was it that talked about 'the second nine months of life' - that a child's head would be too large to get out of the womb if they stayed in for as long as nature might intent? 2. Any psychologists out there that can address for me how ANY mental health professional could think that a child is unattached to the mother at birth? What about a bond being born of biology? What about the baby knowing who mom is by the smell of her milk, her breathing pattern, etc.? Do psychologists really believe that human children are not bonded to the mother when born? Geez - all they want to do is be attached to mom when they come out... 3. Is there anything that really supports this proposition (they are unattached at birth) or anything that counters it? Look forward to your thoughts. Liz Baldwin Elizabeth N. Baldwin Baldwin & Friedman, P.A. Phone: 954-966-7110 Office: 305-944-9100 x233 Fax: 954-966-9796 Office fax: 305-940-8544 Breastfeeding and the Law: http://www.lalecheleague.org/LawMain.html Website: http://www.compromisesolutions.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html