As would be expected, after reading all of the articles on attachment it appears secure attachment is quite important in the lives of infants, children and adolescents.

It seems like common sense, when a child has a secure bond with their parents they are free to explore the world without the fear of being left alone to fend for themselves. They develop confidence in their ability to face the world because they have an inner sense that they are not alone. Although not every securely attached individual has high self confidence, there is no doubt that if you didn't develop a secure attachment your confidence level has got to be affected negatively.

Secure attachment helps us believe that ultimately, everything will be all right and that we have alternatives. Just like the female rats that did not receive affectionate licking from their mothers, humans that received lesser amounts of affection and bonding are more likely to be victimized. Perhaps, in humans its a belief that they are not worthy of better. Like the rats, humans exposed to stressful situations (natural disasters etc.) will have less innate factors to protect them from anxiety if they didn't have that initial secure attachment. Perhaps, your initial belief as an infant that your protector will always come back to you, protects you when you mature into an adolescent (and even as an adult) from disasters by giving you a sense that you are not alone and you are protected.

Over the past year or two (which coincides with the maturation level of my children), I've started to believe that adolescents begin pulling from their parents (and increasing conflict) in order to enable them to go out into that big bad world (and it also helps the parents let them go). Maybe as siblings begin to get older, they realize its them against their parents and they start to transfer their parental bonds to their sibling (who should be around for most of their lives).

My grandmother, who would be over 100 now (if she were still alive) was a firm believer in physical contact between mother and infant. She often reminded my mother, (who reminded me) how important it was to hold our babies, cuddle them, message their feet, stroke their backs, speak directly to them, make eye contact, etc. She was a peasant, who never had the opportunity to go to high school, but still, she new that it was imperative to the babies well being to have positive physical and mental stimulation from their caregivers. She didn't talk about attachment but she did say babies needed to feel secure if they were going to grow up "into good people". She said that loving physical contact made babies more alert and inquisitive. She also believed this close contact with the baby would make the trials of sleepless nights and collic more bearable for the new mother.

It's a little funny that science has finally caught up to the wisdom of another 'old wives' tale.

It is apparent that almost every aspect of our lives is effected by our attachment style. How we handle stress, issues of trust, risk taking, our self confidence and many other things are effected by the relationships we had/have with our caregivers.

At first, I was surprised to read that rats were so overtly effected by lack of maternal grooming but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Social animals need to feel secure emotionally and physically. Even rats need to feel loved in order to function in society (and yes, rats live in a rat society).

While reading this study I was reminded of Harlow's Monkeys and how important warmth and security was to their behavior. (I've attached a link to a UTube video of Harlow's monkeys)

While reading the other two studies on attachment I realized the role attachment can play in personality disorders and mental health issues such as depression. I wonder how can we undo the effects of insecure types of attachment. I also wonder if educating at risk expectant parents of the requirements for secure attachment to develop would suffice. Surely, many of us know the correct way to act, but aren't always capable of following through.

We know the importance of developing secure attachment, but what next? Can we do anything to reduce insecure attachement?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsA5Sec6dAI&feature=related

I was happily surprised to read the requirements necessary to become a Naturopathic Doctor and Naturopathic Midwife. I was also surprised to hear how few naturopathic midwives there are in Ontario.

Ideally, its wonderful if want-to-be mothers have the opportunity to create ideal preconception and conception conditions. Although I have my doubts about the ability to detoxify the body by cleansing your colon, especially after having heard how things my mother was exposed to could effect my child (or even my child's child).

I also found it hard to accept the line "When both parents are working hard to pay attention to achieving optimal health before conception, the health of both parents is reflected in healthy pregnancies and healthy babies". Yes, I agree that parents have a responsibility to avoid any substance or life style that can be detrimental to the health of the baby, but that line almost blames parents when things go wrong. And things do sometimes go wrong, no matter how hard you work to achieve optimal health, or how healthy you are. Unfortunately, comments like that lead people to believe that all miscarriages, birth defects and any health issues in the baby are directly linked to behavior of the parents. Sometimes the egg just doesn't develop properly and sometimes genetic issues are present that can not be changed prior to conception. Sometimes things just happen and when they do, the parents have enough to deal with, without adding to the problem with guilt for being at fault.

After reading the Arsenault article I couldn't help but wonder, have any studies been done to track the behavior of children born during OB complications from 'supportive' families? What is the damaging factor that seems to be undone by stable supportive families? Is it that these children have learned to suppress violent or deliquent behavior?

My next question is, what are the rates of complications in births from 'at risk' mothers? Is it possible that the mothers of children who are violent and delinquent have higher risk of OB complications, possibly because of lower SES factors?

What is the percentage of birth complications in the general public?

I also wonder what the common factor is between each of the complication factors studied. I imagine the prolapsed cord and forceps can easily restrict blood flow during delivery, but what is the common factor in preeclampsia and induction? Is it possible that these difficult deliveries interfere with the at risk mother's bonding with her child?

Just so many questions, and possible confounds....