Mother Hunger: How Adult Daughters Can Understand and Heal from Lost Nurturance, Protection, and Guidance

by Kelly McDaniel

As a child, if essential elements of maternal nurturance and protection were missing, you didn’t stop loving your mother—you simply didn’t learn to love yourself.

The kind of care we received as infants and toddlers teaches us whether we are worthy, lovable, and safe. Truly, what I’ve found is that having an unkind or neglectful mother can be as damaging as having no mother at all.

“One of the best things each of us can do—not only for ourselves, but also for our children and grandchildren—is to metabolize our pain and heal our trauma.”21