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


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