15. Mothers and Childcare

How does a mother's love shape and form her baby's brain and what happens if an infant is separated from his or her mother?  Diana Dean, Research Director of the charity What about the Children?, answers these questions by referring to the science behind the outcomes.  We also talk about the emotional and physiological issues the under threes face when they spend long hours in centre-based childcare, with a particular focus on the harmful effects of cortisol.  Childcare is usually portrayed as something that all mothers want more of and is rarely looked at from the point of view of the impact on infants and toddlers, perhaps because the subject is too painful or too inconvenient to consider, or just because of ignorance of the impact.  Diana is a very gentle, balanced and non-judgemental speaker who is passionate about explaining why it is under threes need to be in a loving, consistent, one on one relationship with a primary carer, who is usually their mother.