Marsha,
This is also the most horrifying thing because the child certainly feels
abandoned even though his mother does not want to be separated from him. Re:
your hospitalisation experience, I have a friend in her 50s who described a
similar story to me recently, she was 18 months old at the time and you are
right, such separations have a lifelong impact. I highly recommend a book
called "Becoming Attached" by Robert Karen which describes the history of
attachment theory research and goes into great detail about how it came to
be that hospitals changed their policies on separating children from their
families....they realised just how damaging it is. Anyone who is interested
in the care of babies and young children (and I think that covers everyone
here) should read this book if they don't already have a good grounding in
attachment theory, it presents the research in a very readable (even
exciting) way.
Karleen Gribble
Australia
(Who is gearing up for first overnight separation from her daughter to go to
the ALCA conference next weekend.....)




> This sentence makes me want to cry...because I identify with it.  I was
> hospitalized as a toddler with burns, back when parents weren't allowed
> to stay with their children and were treated as "visitors"

I can tell you that I still suffer, though in manageable
> ways, the effects of that early "abandonment" (a term that would kill my
> mother if she knew it affected me this way) every single day.  All that
> to say this: if there IS a problem with this child's diet and health
> (and I know that is questionable, but even so) yanking him away from his
> mother's arms may create a more lasting one!

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