Birth, Bonding and Baby Behaviour: Understanding the Links Between Childbirth Experience and Early Infant Behaviour By Carmen Power
Review By: Laura Moya Falcon
Year of publication: October 26, 2025
Name of publisher: Springer Nature.
Number of pages:242 pages
Price: $79.99
Paperback
ISBN 978-3-032-05844-7 ISBN 978-3-032-05845-4 (eBook)
This book about birth, bonding, and baby behaviour investigates the many factors surrounding childbirth and the early postnatal period that influence mothers’ mental health, mother –infant bonding, and infant behaviour and temperament. It arrives at a crucial moment in perinatal care, offering a perspective that feels both timely and deeply needed. Drawing on detailed empirical research, the author introduces insights that refine current understandings of childbirth and early development, revealing how maternal birth experiences may leave lasting traces in early infant behaviour. It reminds us that birth is not solely a clinical event but a profoundly human experience that can leave emotional footprints on both mother and child.
A notable strength of the book is its balanced examination of childbirth as both a physiological and psychological experience. Clinical factors—such as mode of delivery and medical intervention—are situated within a broader emotional landscape that shapes the emerging mother–infant relationship. Feeling supported, listened to, and in control influences maternal perceptions of the baby, the self, and early caregiving confidence—extending well beyond physical outcomes. For the newborn, those same moments mark a first environment, where safety or stress is communicated through touch, tone, and responsive care as they transition to life outside the womb. This nuanced dual perspective makes the work particularly compelling within the broader literature on perinatal experience.
The chapters on bonding are particularly noteworthy. Early skin-to-skin contact, breastfeeding attempts, and responsive caregiving are portrayed not merely as important clinical recommendations but as the newborn’s first language of connection. By acknowledging temperament, cultural context, and individual variation, the author encourages readers to recognize the infant as a relational being from the outset.
Broad in relevance and forward-looking in its implications, the book speaks to clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and parents alike. Its central argument—that maternity care must be both emotionally informed and clinically integrated—feels persuasive and urgently actionable.
I fully recommend this book; it is well worth reading. Beyond synthesizing an impressive body of evidence, the book fills a critical gap in our understanding of birth and early relational life. As the author insightfully remarks, “The experiences of both the baby and the mother during this critical and highly sensitive period—labour, giving birth and being born—will make all the difference, not only to the beginning of life but to all of life.”