The maternal bond is typically the relationship between a mother

Mother

A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...

 and her child

Child

Biologically, a child is generally a human between the stages of birth and puberty. Some vernacular definitions of a child include the fetus, as being an unborn child. The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger than the age of majority...

.

While it typically occurs due to pregnancy

Pregnancy

Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...

 and childbirth

Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...

, it may also occur between a woman and an unrelated child, such as in adoption

Adoption

Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...

. There are hundreds of potential factors, both physical and emotional, which can influence the mother-child bonding process.

Many new mothers do not always experience the "instantly-in-mother-love" emotions. Bonding is a gradually unfolding experience that can take hours, days, weeks, or even months to develop.

Pregnancy

The maternal bond between a human female and her biological child usually begins to develop during pregnancy

Pregnancy

Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...

, with her normally adapting her lifestyle to suit the needs of the developing infant

Infant

A newborn or baby is the very young offspring of a human or other mammal. A newborn is an infant who is within hours, days, or up to a few weeks from birth. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth...

. Beginning around 18 to 25 weeks, the mother also can feel the fetus moving, which can enhance bonding, as can seeing her baby during an ultrasound scan.

The developing fetus hears the mother's heart beat and voice and may respond to touch or movement. By the seventh month of pregnancy, two-thirds of women may report a strong maternal bond.

Mothers who did not want the pregnancy

Unintended pregnancy

Unintended pregnancies are those in which conception was not intended by the female sexual partner. Worldwide, 38% of pregnancies were unintended in 1999 . Unintended pregnancies are the primary cause of induced abortion, resulting in about 42 million induced abortions per year...

 typically have a lower quality relationship with the child. They are also more likely to suffer from post-partum depression or other mental health problems, and less likely to breast-feed the infant.

Childbirth

The process of childbirth

Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...

 ideally greatly adds to this bond - though that is not always the case, as every birth and every mother is unique. Situational factors may include a traumatic birth, the pregnant woman's own mother's parenting style, experienced stress, social support, and the influence of her spouse.

The emotional bonding theory first appeared in the mid-1970s, and by the 1980s bonding had become an accepted maternity term, after which the process became analysed and scrutinised to the point of creating another term - poor bonding.

Breastfeeding

Production of oxytocin

Oxytocin

Oxytocin is a mammalian hormone that acts primarily as a neuromodulator in the brain.Oxytocin is best known for its roles in sexual reproduction, in particular during and after childbirth...

 during lactation

Lactation

Lactation describes the secretion of milk from the mammary glands and the period of time that a mother lactates to feed her young. The process occurs in all female mammals, however it predates mammals. In humans the process of feeding milk is called breastfeeding or nursing...

 increases parasympathetic activity, thus reducing anxiety

Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...

 and theoretically fostering bonding, so it is generally understood that maternal oxytocin circulation can predispose women to form bonds and show bonding behaviour.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts rather than from a baby bottle or other container. Babies have a sucking reflex that enables them to suck and swallow milk. It is recommended that mothers breastfeed for six months or...

 is also strongly believed to foster the early post-partum maternal bond, via touch, response, and mutual gazing.

See also

• Human bonding
  Human bonding
  Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together...
  
  
• Paternal bond
  Paternal bond
  A paternal bond refers to the relationship between a father and his child. In the U.S., legal paternity is presumed for the husband of the mother unless a separate action is taken; an unmarried man may establish paternity by signing a voluntary recognition of paternity or by taking court action...
  
  
• Cinderella effect
  Cinderella Effect
  The Cinderella effect is a term used by psychologists to describe the high incidence of stepchildren being physically abused, emotionally abused, sexually abused, neglected, murdered, or otherwise mistreated at the hands of their stepparents at significantly higher rates than at the hands of their...
  
  
• Mother's boy
  Mother's boy
  Mother's boy, also mummy's boy or mama's boy, is a term for a man who is excessively attached to his mother at an age when men are expected to be independent...
  
  
• Haptic Medicine
  Haptic medicine
  Haptic medicine is a form of alternative medicine which involves the study and application of maternal touch to support human health.-Current studies:The role of maternal touch in human health is the subject of a study in Canada known as MAVAN...