Detachment

After a week or more out of mother's care and without being specially cared for by the same person, the phase of detachment develops. At this point, there is an almost complete absence of attachment behaviour when a baby first meets mother again. It's as if the baby doesn't trust her and does not want to attach to her again. At this stage the child can be cheerful on the surface and friendly to almost anyone, except the mother if she reappears.

Staff in hospitals and residential nurseries used to look forward to this stage. They felt that the child had "settled." As a result, parental visits were sometimes discouraged to avoid "upsetting" the child by starting the protests again when they left.

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