Introduction

It has been said that children who are just fed, die. For a child to thrive they need the warmth, care and security that comes from forming a close bond with a particular person - usually their mum.

The attachment that forms between mother and child is instinctive and involves a child's senses, emotions, their ability to reason and their need to communicate socially.

How well they bond has a deep influence of how they grow up and particularly how well they are able to form future relationships with people.

Problems occur when something interferes with the bonding process in the child's first two years of life.

The cause of the problems can be many and varied - from a painful illness or traumatic birth to the severest forms of abuse.

Because many of the children who are adopted or fostered have been the victims of abuse, they often bring with them into their new family an emotional baggage that can have a considerable impact.

Originally it was thought that attachment problems occurred only in children who were placed late for adoption but now professionals say that it can just as easily happen in babies adopted at just a few months old.

Some researchers argue that problems can start even when a child is still in the womb, for instance if a pregnancy is unwanted or hidden.

Children with the disorder develop highly disturbed and distinctive patterns of behaviour which are difficult to treat. Love alone is often not enough to break down the defensive barriers to affection that these children have built up in order to survive an traumatic situation from their past.

The British child psychiatrist John Bowlby is acknowledged as the founder of attachment theory in the 1940s which stemmed from the behaviour he noticed in two boys when he was at school. But it was not until the mid 1970s that the theory became widely accepted.

Fortunately the problem, although still a relatively recent concept, is now widely recognised and parents will seek and can get help sooner saving years of distress for both the child and the parents who often blame themselves or feel they have failed a child in some way.

In order to help these children it is first important to understand the reasons for their challenging behaviour.

So how is the mother-child bond formed? Click here to find out

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