In their 2024 article “Breastfeeding, Mutual Gratification, and Emotion Self-Regulation: Bridging Gaps Across Object Relations, Drive- and Attachment-Based Psychoanalytic Theories,” published in Psychoanalytic Psychology, Bruno Biagianti and Birgitta Haga Gripsrud explore the intersection of psychoanalytic theories of breastfeeding and emotion self-regulation (ESR). Drawing on foundational ideas from Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, and John Bowlby, the authors provide a theoretical analysis of the role breastfeeding plays in infant emotional development. Their article advances a provocative yet theory-informed argument: Breastfeeding holds the potential for mutual gratification—sensual, affective, and even erotic—that benefits both mother and child by promoting deeper emotional attunement, which in turn facilitates the child’s development of ESR.
The authors first underscore breastfeeding’s evolutionary and cultural significance, noting how breastfeeding has historically been a universal practice for emotional and physical nourishment. They then delve into psychoanalytic theories, particularly Freud’s stance that breastfeeding exceeds its nutritional purpose, playing a crucial role in libidinal development. Freud emphasized the breast as the infant’s first love object, which fosters a dynamic of pleasure and attachment.
Biagianti and Gripsrud expand on this psychoanalytic view by suggesting that, beyond fulfilling the infant’s needs, breastfeeding also offers emotional and sensual satisfaction to the mother. This mutual gratification can enhance dyadic attunement, where both parties benefit from a deep emotional bond. Drawing on Bowlby’s attachment theory, the authors posit that effective breastfeeding can help the child internalize emotion regulation strategies as the mother manages the infant’s emotional states. Through breastfeeding, a mother becomes emotionally attuned to her infant, which, over time, aids the infant’s development of ESR.
However, the authors propose that when breastfeeding is experienced as unerotic or emotionally disconnected due to societal taboos, previous traumas, or internal conflicts, difficulties in emotional development may result. An implication of emotionally disconnected breastfeeding may be early deprivation of sensory gratification, potentially leading to emotional dysregulation, relational difficulties, and psychopathology later in life.
By considering the mother’s perspective in breastfeeding, the authors address a blind spot in Freud’s theory, which is largely focused on the infant. Mothers can experience breastfeeding as gratifying and even arousing, thanks to the hormones of lactation and the physiology of the breast. Acknowledging maternal pleasure could help reconceptualize societal attitudes toward breastfeeding—often seen through the lens of sacrifice and duty—such that breastfeeding becomes an act of mutual desire and satisfaction rather than a selfless service provided by the mother.
For the field of psychoanalysis and psychology, Biagianti and Gripsrud’s work invites a deeper observation and theorization of how early maternal–infant interactions, especially breastfeeding, contribute to long-term emotional development. Their article calls for future empirical research into the psychoanalytic dimensions of breastfeeding, particularly exploring how mutual sensual gratification might contribute to ESR and may offer deeper emotional experiences.