Multiple birth and its influence on the mothering experience: A case study of parent/infant psychotherapy with quadruplets

Menzel, Barbara J.; Rotnem, Diane

doi:10.1002/1097-0355(199021)11:1<26::aid-imhj2280110104>3.0.co;2-9

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…In addition to depression, mothers often experience overwhelming physical and emotional exhaustion in caring for their multiple newborns. This makes the task of forming new attachments difficult (Menzel & Rotnem, 1990). Of the families studied by Robin et al (1991), 60% showed a striking absence of enjoyment in exchanges with their infants.…”

Section: Postnatal Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple-Birthing Trends: Impact on Couples and Families

2000

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Current treatments for infertility often involve medical interventions that offer promising and sometimes unexpected results. One consequence has been a burgeoning of multifetal conceptions throughout the world. The purpose of this article is to review research on the effects of the multiple-birth experience on couples and families. Needs for future research and implications for couple and family counselors are presented.

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Section: Postnatal Experiencementioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple-Birthing Trends: Impact on Couples and Families

2000

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“…The positive or negative attitudes of parents may influence many aspects of the development of the children in waysthat may be determined, in part, by the personal histories of such parents in addition to their expectations. Regarding this point, Menzel and Rotnem (1990) have presented a story of a mother who felt deprived of the experience of a normal maternity after having had quadruplets. The babies captured something she never had been able to have and she tried to relate to the four children as if they were one unit.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of bonding and behavioral differences in twins

Cherro

1992

Infant Ment. Health J.

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In this project, sets of twins were assessed, treated with psychoanalytically oriented approaches, and followed in a research study. The basic hypothesis was that in identical twins, the variations of the quality of bonding between each of them and their parents and the differences in behavior are consequences of the parents' expectations, desires, fantasies, and fears about the multiple pregnancy and their personal history. In order to explore this hypothesis, the parents were interviewed once they knew that it was a multiple pregnancy. Subsequently, they were videotaped during delivery, breast‐feeding, bathing, face‐to‐face interactions, solid feeding, free play, and interaction with peers. These observations were discussed with the parents. The team was then presented with the outcome. This approach has proved to have therapeutic value, and, therefore, the project is considered to be action‐research.

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Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction: Psychodynamic Implications

McKinney

Tuber²,

Downey³

1996

Psychiatry

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New reproductive technologies, such as advanced infertility treatments, may have significant implications for women's psychological experience of pregnancy and motherhood. This paper examines some of the psychodynamic implications of multifetal pregnancy reduction, a medical procedure in which some of the fetuses in a multiple pregnancy are aborted while other fetuses are carried to term. Forty-four women who had undergone pregnancy reductions were interviewed about their emotional experience of this medical intervention and their subsequent pregnancies. A qualitative analysis of their experience was conducted from five psychoanalytically-informed vantage points: drive theory, ego psychology, object relations theory, self psychology and a developmental perspective. Women experienced having to abort some of their fetuses as a stressful and distressing life event, and a fourth of the women experienced bereavement reactions which impaired their functioning for at least two weeks. Conscious and unconscious responses to the procedure included ambivalence, guilt, and a sense of narcissistic injury, increasing the complexity of their attachment to the remaining babies. However, the achievement of the developmental goal of parenting healthy birth children helped most women feel that they had made the right decision for themselves and their families. Further research is indicated, including interviews before the reduction and long-term follow-up of mothers and surviving children.

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Multiple birth and its influence on the mothering experience: A case study of parent/infant psychotherapy with quadruplets

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Multiple-Birthing Trends: Impact on Couples and Families

Multiple-Birthing Trends: Impact on Couples and Families

Quality of bonding and behavioral differences in twins

Multifetal Pregnancy Reduction: Psychodynamic Implications

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