Resistance to fear of child birth and stability of mother-child bond

Abstract

In order to examine (1) the stability of the mother-child-bond and (2) associations between mother-child-bonding and aspects of maternal-well-being, pregnant women (N = 170) completed measures on well-being and mother-child-bonding at two antepartum and two postpartum time points. We found relatively weak associations between mother-child-bonding at 20 weeks of gestation and mother-child-bonding at 6 months postpartum. Fear of childbirth was weakly, but statistically significantly associated with mother-child-bonding at 6 weeks (but not at 6 months) postpartum. Correlations between antepartum general well-being and social support, on the one hand, and mother-child-bonding, on the other, failed to reach statistical significance. Women with a partner had a better mother-child-bonding at 36 weeks of gestation and 6 months postpartum, than women without a partner, and older women had better mother-child-bonding at 20 weeks of gestation, than younger women. Our findings thus suggest that mother-child-bonding is not a very stable phenomenon, but it is quite robust against potential negative influences of poor maternal mental health.