It is not often that I come across an article of such importance to parents, and one so well-written and documented, as this one by Lauren Lindsey Porter on the subject of maternal-infant attachment.

The article originally appeared in Mothering Magazine (Issue 119, July/August 2003) and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. References to footnotes will be provided with the final installment. Below are pages one and two. It is my hope that you will read it and share its contents with others.

The Science of Attachment: The Biological Roots of Love
By Lauren Lindsey Porter

Turn on your television. Walk the aisles of a toy store. Peruse the shelves in the baby department. What do you find? Toys to enchant and stimulate. Products to soothe and calm. Videos to enhance intelligence. Games to teach. There is a myriad of merchandise out there, all designed to connect with our babies, magnify their intelligence, and help them negotiate the world. There is also a vast library of advice to go along with the merchandise.

Grandparents, pediatricians, friends, obstetricians, and daycare providers, to name just a few, each have volumes to speak on the subject of parenting. The themes that quickly emerge include fostering baby’s independence, refraining from spoiling, and encouraging acceptable behavior and sleep patterns. Much of this advice focuses on easing the burden on parents, particularly mothers, who often feel overwhelmed at the arrival of a new baby or the challenges of a toddler. Even for parents drawn to child-centered, attachment-focused childrearing, difficulties arise that cause confusion and questioning, leaving us to wonder if we’re doing the right thing. How can you sort it all out? Are there rights and wrongs? If so, how do you find them?

The field of attachment theory provides some answers. Behind the capitalist marketing, beyond the mainstream agenda, beneath the advice of the masses, there exists an extensive, sound, and powerful body of research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and infant development. It gives us the answers we seek, but may not be what we want to hear.

Our instincts have long told us to meet the needs of our babies, even when we haven’t understood how or why. Now compelling cross-discipline, integrative research joins the findings of neurology, psychiatry, biology, genetics, and psychology to hand us the keys to unlocking the mysteries of parenting. This research offers clear evidence that creates a fundamental understanding of why attachment is the cornerstone of infant development, and how to create a secure environment that guides our children to their fullest potential.

Attachment theory began in the 1950s with the work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Bowlby, an English psychiatrist, became interested in young children’s responses to loss, and began studying the realms of attachment and bonding. He and Ainsworth, an American psychologist who conducted some of the most extensive field research into mother-infant interaction ever completed, formulated what is now commonly known as attachment theory.

Attachment theory is based on the belief that the mother-child bond is the essential and primary force in infant development, and thus forms the basis of coping, negotiation of relationships, and personality development.1 If the mother is absent or unavailable, a primary caregiver serves the mother’s role.

Attachment can be defined in both behavioral and emotional terms. From a behavioral perspective, attachment is represented by a cluster of instinctive child behaviors that serve to create the attachment bond, protect the child from fear and harm, and assist in the safe exploration of the world.   These behaviors include reaching, clinging, sucking, and locomotion, and all facilitate maximum physical and emotional development.3

(Be sure to visit www.familyfieldguide again tomorrow, for more of Ms. Porter’s article.) FFG