EARLY CESSATION OF BREASTFEEDING: EXPLORATION OF UNCONSCIOUS MECHANISMS

After having described the clinical research concerning some mothers' choice to stop breastfeeding while still in the maternity ward, the author proposes several avenues of thought to try and understand the unconscious mechanisms which lie behind such a decision. To begin, the author takes a closer look at the theory of seduction, the concept of a mother's capacity for reverie and her maternal imago in order to better understand this clinical situation which, although it is less frequent today, is more complex than before. Far from a Manichaean theory on breastfeeding, this approach tries to demonstrate to what degree these first feeding interactions between a mother and her child constitute a rich field of investigation because of their emotional intensity and because of the narcissistic and unconscious maternal stakes involved.