Adaptation to the Birth of a Down's Syndrome Infant: Grieving and Maternal Attachment

Six cases, involving family adaptation to a Down's syndrome birth, illustrate variations in the countermovement between processes of parental grieving for a fantasied normal infant and attachment to a real handicapped infant.

Abstract

Six cases, involving family adaptation to a Down's syndrome birth, illustrate variations in the countermovement between processes of parental grieving for a fantasied normal infant and attachment to a real handicapped infant. After initial grieving, there is likely to be some affective denial of disability, with a second wave of grieving inaugurated by a social smile which is dampened and by eye-to-eye contact which is less than expected. Implications for intervention are especially important in the light of our changing attitudes toward home care of the retarded.