New parents can find the reality of caring for a baby is very different to their daydreams. In this regard, writer Bethany Saltman was like many others; she eagerly anticipated her baby, but when daughter Azalea arrived, her feelings of love were accompanied by resentment and impatience.

Bethany became concerned that something was wrong with her attachment to her child and she wondered if this situation had its roots in her original family relationships.

So began a journey of more than a decade, where Bethany researched attachment theory, a field of developmental psychology that explores how and why parents and children love each other.

The result is her book: Strange Situation: A mother’s journey into the science of attachment.

By Hilary Harper

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