Some children MUST be affected by their mothers running off to work shortly after birth. Science would never pursue researching the affects this has on babies and toddlers due to exposing the negative effects of mixing motherhood with their mandatory careers. Today’s lack of bonding between mother and child COULD be the trigger for autism. ‘Bonding’ is just as critical to formative years as food and sleep but it seems the emphasis today is on DAYCARE, food and sleep. I’d be curious to know what the prevalence of autism is in families with ‘stay at home’ moms, and especially in families with stay at home moms where the biological father is also present. Has anyone studied this or is this theory too ‘politically incorrect’?
You bring up an interesting point. If a baby is dropped off for 8+ hours at a daycare at 6-8 weeks then I could imagine that they are not getting enough stimulation and there are going to be problems in mental/social development. I had a good friend who managed a daycare and even though they did their best to interact with each child it was basically all they could do to make sure they were fed, changed and not being mauled by the other kids. No time for individual care and nuturing. We have millions of newborns being warehoused for most of their waking hours.
I was a stay-at-home mother, deeply bonded. I knew there was something wrong with my oldest when he was ten days old, even though I didn’t have much experience with babies - he wasn’t seeing the world right. When he stopped looking me in the eye when he was nine months old, when the babbling stopped, when he developed strange fascinations, when he spoke a word or two but stopped, I was terrified in my heart but it took another year for his pediatricians to see that there was something wrong and tell me what it was called!
And on the other hand, his younger brother is not in the least autistic, but he’s definitely a different-drummer kid with attention problems, and the school and a psychiatrist tried to tell us he was on the autistic spectrum.
Under-diagnosis and over-diagnosis - what a difference eight years and a family history makes.
Today’s lack of bonding between mother and child COULD be the trigger for autism.
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Good point!