It Depends on How You Hug Me: Theoretical Perspectives on the Life of an Infant and its Family

Abstract

This article discusses birth and the first months of a child’s life. The author explores various theories and methods of contact as well as the intersubjective processes between mother and infant from birth, both in the maternal environment and in the cultural context. She begins by recounting her own experience, highlighting the importance of a personal mothering style. The article then explores the significance of the birth of a second child as a relational and intergenerational event that transforms the entire family system. The author addresses not only mothers but also the professionals who accompany infants and mothers through the birth process and the first months of life in order to underscore the transformative power, for a woman and her family, of creative and conscious motherhood.

Keywords:

• Parent ego states
• children
• birth
• newborn
• family
• maternity
• holding
• ethnopediatrics
• exterogestation

Disclosure statement

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Cinzia Chiesa

Cinzia Chiesa is a psychologist, psychotherapist, and Provisional Teaching and Supervising Transactional Analyst (psychotherapy) through the EATA Council of Certification. She works with children and adolescents and collaborates with the Centro di Psicologia e Analisi Transazionale (Center for Psychology and Transactional Analysis) in Milan and with the Terrenuove cooperative. She can be reached at Via Gentile Bellini 10, 20146 Milan, Italy; email: [email protected]. An earlier version of this article was published in Quaderni di psicologia, Analisi Transazionale e Scienze Umane.