#The golden hour time travel book movie#

If they sat or looked anywhere but at their baby, a zero. If the mother stood by the doctor and watched the entire time, they were rated a three.

Researchers also scored women’s behavior during a checkup of their baby by the pediatrician. Women who reported they “felt good” and did not think of their baby while out were scored zero. The mothers were also asked whether they’d been out in this first month after their baby’s birth women who had not left their baby earned a three, as did women who left but “thought constantly” of their baby while out. Women who let their baby cry were scored a zero, while women who reported picking up their baby every time earned a perfect three. Women were asked, in a follow-up one month after birth, what they did when their babies cried, even when they’d been fed and had a dry diaper. This study, “ Maternal Attachment: Importance of the First Post-Partum Days,” published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1972 and later expanded in the book Maternal-Infant Bonding: The Impact of Early Separation or Loss on Family Development, begins by noting that “in certain animals such as the goat, cow, and sheep, separation of the mother and infant immediately after birth for a period as short as one to four hours often results in distinctly aberrant mothering.” The researchers report that their study was guided by “the hypothesis that there is a period shortly after birth that is uniquely important for mother-to-infant attachment in the human being.” And for the first time, they tested this idea on humans, not animals.Ī baby is just the beginning of a child, and a new mother is just that-new.īut the measures used to assess the quality of this bond point to the biases inherent in the research. Research on animal motherhood shows up in the very first sentence of a landmark study of human mothers that led to dramatic shifts in policies on maternity wards from the 1970s on, as hospitals moved away from keeping newborns in nurseries to encouraging mothers to “room-in” with their new baby. This all sounds preposterous from our present vantage point-of course, women aren’t goats or ducks or geese of course, parents of all genders can develop a supportive, loving relationship with a child, even if they’re not present right at birth-but this kind of animal research has been marshalled time and again to support some of our most persistent, and most damaging, beliefs about motherhood. No matter how much the birth itself is played for laughs (with the person giving birth swearing and yelling), the moments after are portrayed as bleary-eyed bliss.

#The golden hour time travel book movie#

Think of the diaper commercials that show a new mother holding her baby for the first time, or basically any movie you’ve ever seen that includes a birth. The concept of the “golden hour” shows up everywhere, from a Scary Mommy article issuing a stern warning about this time (“no matter what, your child needs for you to defend it”) to a piece on the website of Sanford Health, one of the largest health systems in the United States, which asserts that “the first few minutes after birth are a magical time for bonding with baby.” And even when the phrase itself isn’t used, the idea that the first moments after birth will be filled with joy and immediate connection is omnipresent. I’m not alone in believing those first moments after birth would result in an immediate connection to my newborn that would guarantee an easy passage into motherhood.