DESCRIPTION:
MATERNAL-INFANT BONDING
MATERNAL-INFANT BONDING
Marshall Klaus, MD, and John Kennell, MD, both neonatologists at Case Western Reserve Hospital in Cleveland first identified and described Maternal-Infant Bonding. They wrote a book about it in 1976. They claimed it was an intense physical, emotional, behavioral connection between the mother and her baby that occurred at birth and often during pregnancy.
When it is missing, the mother often knows this. She may say, "There has always been something wrong with this child." Or she may know that she doesn't have feelings for this child as she does for her other children.
The fault is not hers. It is usually the result a separation at birth between the mother and child or the mother being traumatized by something horrible in her life, like the death of someone close or being in an abusive marriage. For more information about this see the "Articles" section of this website.
For an in-depth description of maternal-infant bonding, click here. For a video description of bonding and how it is linked to childhood asthma, look at the "Video" section of this website.
Click here if you want to take a brief questionnaire to see if you have a bonding problem with you child, and we will evaluate it and get back to you.