My Story About Reactive attachment disorder

by Lisa
(BLOOMINGTON, IN, USA)

When I had adopted my beautiful baby girl from China I went into it thinking that from day one the two of us would share a natural mother-daughter bond. Perhaps I was overly optimistic about the whole ordeal. Sadly, when my daughter made it to the United States things were not exactly as I had dreamt them to be.

She was one year old at the time and a very precious little girl, but for some reason or another she just would not respond to me. She would sometimes sit and cry for no apparent reason and throw her toys around. She seemed somewhat angry at me. When I tried to pick her up and kiss her she didn't like it and would turn her head. I wondered why this was. I had always thought that a baby always reacted kindly to affection.

I did some research on the Internet and it turned out we were experiencing reactive attachment disorder. I was shocked because I never knew it existed! I knew that this MUST have been the problem. It had stated that this problem could arise because my daughter had negative experiences in the past from those who took care of her. Since she was a baby from China there was a high probability it was the truth.

After contacting my pediatrician he suggested ways I could work with my daughter in order to overcome the reactive attachment disorder.

It took a lot of work on my part and it didn't come easy, but eventually my precious baby girl warmed up to both myself and my husband. It was a battle that took many months, but the work and effort I put into escaping the clutches of reactive attachment disorder is more than worth it! Anyone can overcome it but it does take time and a tremendous amount of love and patience.