Intensive mothering has been a persistent trend for several years. These constantly increasing practices (co-sleeping, carrying in a sling, prolonged breastfeeding, etc.) thus reconnect with habits that were abandoned for a time.
Also read our articles on the specifics, advantages and disadvantages of each practice: co-sleeping, prolonged breastfeeding, babywearing, swaddling, natural infant hygiene or sign language.
Mothering: what is it?
It all starts in the maternity ward. As soon as the infant is placed in its cradle, or the arms of its mother, opinions diverge. According to Le Petit Robert, mothering refers to “all the care provided to young children”. The definition, so vast, is therefore subject to interpretation. For Estelle, a two-time mother: “It’s supporting your baby towards independence without over-investing a naturally strong bond. But for Emma, impossible to leave her 4 month old son, even for an hour. The ways of mothering are as diverse as there are mothers and births: judging them would be as sterile as it is unfair. According to Séverine Gojard **, they are also far from being adopted at random: “The influence of social trajectories, culture and level of education playing on choices and from whom we seek advice. “
* Toll-free number for help and support for parenthood: 0 800 00 3456
** Sociologist, author of “The mother’s profession”, La Dispute, 2010
Mothering: more and more practiced
Bringing the idea of a “natural” motherhood up to date, proximal mothering actually originates in post-war England, claiming in particular the theory of attachment of the psychiatrist and pediatrician John Bowlby (1907-1990). This theory, which has become essential in child psychiatry, is based on psychoanalysis, but also ethology and cognitive psychology. Dr Bowlby sheds light on what has hitherto been unrecognized: this primary need for attachment of the little human, necessary for his internal security and, later, for his capacity to be autonomous and to face his emotions.
Today, proximal mothering has its forums, its blogs … And across the Atlantic, his bestseller : the parenting guide “The Attachment Parenting Book”, published by media outlet Dr William Sears in 2001 (untranslated). The trend is so strong that in May 2012, on the front page of the Times Magazine, a photo of a mother breastfeeding her 3 and a half year old child, perched on a stool, launched the controversy. In Europe, this way of considering motherhood is also debated.