A new vision of a classical question: How to become a mother?

Abstract

This article offers a reflection on conception, pregnancy, and the first mother–infant relationships of mothers with motoric and sensory disabilities. Based on more than 13 years of experience with women with motoric and sensory disabilities who had a desire for a child, the author analyzes this unusual situation from three different points of view: the medical help to procreate, meeting a partner for the mother, and the link with the initial maternal family, i.e. the mother’s mother. The last part concerns the possibility of the development of a mother–infant relationship when bodily function is lacking.

Key words:

• mother–infant relationships
• maternal physical disability
• new conditions of procreation
• maternal functions versus maternal passion

Acknowledgments

Special thanks go to Rebecca Smith who helped me to translate my article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Drina Candilis-Huisman

Author

Drina Candilis-Huisman, PhD, is a psychologist and psychoanalyst. Since 1982, she has been teaching infant psychopathology at the Université de Paris-Diderot. She currently works as a clinician for young mothers and their babies at the Institut de Puériculture de Paris, France, and is also in private practice in Paris.