child’s negotiation of this extimacy marks other relational encounters. As explained earlier, my own recent foray into autotheory was prompted by a similar acknowledgement of the ‘toxic maternal’, which led me to question my own career choices in light of my impossible maternal separation. Madeleine Grumet’s work, it may be argued, uncovered the centrality of the complex mother–daughter relationship in the professional lives of teaching women, thereby prefiguring the anchoring role of the maternal in autotheoretical texts written by women who use the genre to explore
nonhandled rats 90 minutes after the test, compared to the handled rats, for whom the levels had returned to baseline after 60 minutes. The study concludes: ‘our findings suggest that the mechanism by which the early environment influences the stress response involves the regulation of GR concentrations in the hippocampus’ (Meaney et al, 1985: 734). Crucially, the paper does not explain why human handling and maternal separation during suckling is apparently so beneficial in developing a greater level of resistance to stress. We might plausibly expect such
still provide antenatal care in prison. Midwives monitor the pregnancy and wellbeing of the women and visit the mothers after the baby is born in order to provide postnatal care. Midwives caring for imprisoned mothers are typically based in local community teams rather than with prison healthcare teams ( Abbott, 2018 ). However, since the Review of Operational Policy on Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and Maternal Separation published in July 2022, all prisons are required to have a Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Liaison Officer (PMBLO). Also following the review
tragic deaths of three babies, one stillborn in an ambulance en route to hospital (2017), and two further stillbirths in English prisons in the space of just nine months ( PPO, 2021 , 2022 ), there is now an unprecedented level of attention. This attention and the Review of Operational Policy on Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and Maternal Separation 2 (2020) has resulted in improved standards, and specific policy and guidance on the care of women experiencing pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes (including miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion and ectopic pregnancy), birth
minutes every day (placed in a plastic container away from the mother’s cage) showed 24% higher concentrations of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in the hippocampus, a protein that has an important role in modulating the stress response. The paper does not explain why human handling and maternal separation during suckling are apparently so beneficial in developing a greater level of resilience. That both handling (which involves maternal separation and isolation) and high nurturance seem to confer identical benefits in terms of stress reactivity seems, for the lay
interest in women in prison and specifically pregnant women and mothers recently, including a new position paper published by the Royal College of Midwives ( RCM, 2019 ) which outlines best practice for working with expectant women in prison. Following this, the MoJ (2020) published a ‘Review of operational policy on pregnancy, mother and baby units and maternal separation’ where additional and specific guidance around pregnancy, birth, separation and staff training was issued. Tragic deaths of two babies born to imprisoned mothers also led to investigations being
, charitable organisations like Birth Companions and activists like the gender justice pressure group Level Up. 2 We echo the recommendations we have made previously, and those outlined in the recent reviews. The Trowler review and the Review of Operational Policy on Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and Maternal Separation are important and influential reports that shine a light on the current provisions made for mothers and babies, where the gaps in provision are and how best to improve responses. If fully implemented the recommendations and actions from both reports
, 1977). The work by Kagan (Kagan et al, 1988) provides an important insight into the physiological mechanisms that underpin mother–infant bonding and anxiety produced by disruption of the bond as a result of maternal separation. The conclusion from animal studies is that opiate-using neural pathways regulate affiliative (mother–infant) behaviours. In summary, when a young monkey is separated from its mother, opiate-releasing and opiate- sensitive mechanisms become inhibited. This gives rise to yearning for the mother and a generalised vulnerability and
are enduring a less than perfect experience and seeing their own actions as the cause of this. Feeling guilty was a continuous background ‘hum’ in women’s lives, although few women said they experienced guilt as debilitating. Certain situations brought maternal guilt to the surface more readily than others and the background hum became more prominent and emotionally destabilising. The early weeks and months spent settling children into new childcare settings invoked guilt when women felt their children were distressed by maternal separation. Women whose
; Minson, 2020 ; Baldwin, 2022a , 2022b ; Epstein et al, 2022 ), has shone light on the experiences of imprisoned mothers and babies. Consequently, the experiences and needs of this previously largely invisible population are now being discussed and, importantly, being considered in prison policy development and practice. Significantly, with a view to effecting meaningful change for the first time in many decades, not least via the Ministry of Justice’s Review of Operational Policy on Pregnancy, Mother and Baby Units and Maternal Separation published in July 2022. 5
