Abstract
The mother's bond to her baby starts to develop during pregnancy, and it is related to the baby's attachment. We study how the mother's prenatal expectations of her unborn baby, the mother's adult relationships, and postnatal psycho-social factors (stress, depression, and anxiety) are related to the risk of bonding disturbance. The study comprised 1398 mothers and their unborn babies assessed both during pregnancy and when the babies were 3 months old (47.7% girls). The mother's risk of bonding disturbance was investigated using Brockington's Postpartum Bonding Questionnaire. According to the results, 71 (5.1%) of all the mothers in the study had a risk of a bonding disturbance. In a final adjusted logistic regression model, the most important risk factors were the mother's inability to form positive expectations about relationships with the baby during the third trimester of pregnancy (AOR=7.78, p ≤ .001), maternal postnatal stress (AOR=4.95, p ≤ .001) and maternal postnatal depression (AOR=3.46, p ≤ .01). The results challenge healthcare professionals to screen pregnant mothers to identify at-risk groups for post-partum bonding disturbances. Intervention programs to prevent the development of bonding disturbances, and thus their possible serious consequences for children's development, should be considered.
Highlights
A mother’s bond to her child represents the parent’s emotional relationship with her child (Brockington et al., 2006)
We study how the mother’s prenatal expectations of her unborn baby, the mother’s adult relationships, and postnatal psychosocial factors are related to the risk of bonding disturbance
We found that the prevalence of bonding disturbances was relatively low in our sample and that a lack of positive expectations about the relationship with the unborn baby, postnatal stress, and depression were the strongest factors predicting bonding disturbances at the age of 3 months when demographics were statistically controlled for
Summary
A mother’s bond to her child represents the parent’s emotional relationship with her child (Brockington et al., 2006). The development of this bond prepares mother to her maternal role (Stern, 1995). The bond already begins to evolve during pregnancy (Bunescu, 2020; Canella, 2004; Smorti et al, 2020; Vedova et al, 2008) when mothers.
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