Sarah Hrdy writes: “It was the mother who continuously carried the infant skin-to-skin contact – stomach to stomach, chest to breast. Soothed by her heartbeat, nestled in the heat of her body, rocked by her movements, the infant’s entire world was its mother” (1999, p.99). Hrdy notes that no wild monkey or ape was ever observed harming its baby. John Prescott (in Narvaez et al, 2013) argues that bottle-feeding has deprived the infant of essential sensory-motor nutrients like touch, movement, smell and the taste of the mother. These form the basis for pleasure, intimacy and love of women throughout adulthood. The environment of evolutionary adaptedness included many allomothers who have all but disappeared from modern child-rearing. Cook (1996) has argued with Bowlby that failure of early bonding puts nations at risk of violence and depression. Cross-cultural studies show that failure of affectional bonding between mother and child and adolescent sexual behaviour predict violence, depression, and addiction. Birth complications and maternal rejection at age one are linked to violent crime at 18. Breast-feeding bonding prevents infant mortality and suicide. Prescott’s research shows that in 75% of tribal cultures, where weaning age is 2.5 years or more, have low or absent suicide rates. 82% of cultures where weaning age is 2.5 or greater and support youth sex have no or low suicide rates. Pain and pleasure are encoded in our brains determining who we become and if we follow a path of violence or peace. Montagu claimed: “What mothers are to their children, so man will be to man”. We now live in an environment of ‘sensory-emotional deprivation’.
Breast-feeding, alloparents and the prevention of violence and suicide
