Alimentare la vita: l'allattamento e la relazione madre-bambino

Abstract

Breastfeeding represents the first way of providing food for a child’s healthy growth and development. The importance of breastfeeding lies not only in its physical and physiological benefits but also in the psychological and social development of a child’s personality. Mother and child are generally said to bond in the first few hours after birth, when the mother breastfeeds her baby; this special relationship between the two forms the basis for any future human relationship. The article describes the maternal bond and the child’s attachment from the social, ethnological, psychological and pedagogical points of view.