The impact of traumatic delivery on the mother–infant relationship

Abstract

This paper considers the effect of traumatic delivery on the mother's state of mind and on her relationship with her new baby. Thought is also given to the parental couple's relationship when they have experienced a traumatic delivery. Research associated with traumatic birth experience, post-traumatic stress disorder and the effect on the developing foetus of high levels of anxiety during pregnancy are further discussed. Clinical material is used to illustrate the distress experienced by two mothers when they have felt traumatised by a difficult labour and birth.

Keywords:

• traumatic delivery
• pregnancy
• post-traumatic stress
• anxiety
• parental couple
• mother–infant interaction

Acknowledgements

I should like to thank Angela Dove and Vernier Press for their kind permission to use the first two verses of Angela Dove's poem ‘Returning Defective Goods’.