What do you call a mother who gains attention by taking her baby to the doctors too often?

Answer 1

Sometimes mothers, especially new mothers, are simply extremely worried and overprotective. Every little thing becomes cause for alarm. They may not being trying to gain this attention, it may just be a by-product of being an overly anxious parent.

There is however a disorder where parents, usually the mother, purposefully puts their children in the situation of being ill to gain attention for themselves as caretaker. This is called Munchausen's By Proxy. Not only will some mothers take their children to doctor after doctor, but sometimes they will make their children ill, by poison or by feeding the children food they shouldn't be eating (Allergies, food that is too old for an infant, etc..). Why do they do this? Because people tend to look at the parent of an ill child and praise them for being a dedicated parent. They pity them because of having a sick child, and think they are marvelous parents for taking such good care of their children.

Answer: I recently met a new mother and she is calling the doctor, going to the doctor and stressing about herself and her baby for every little thing. Poor thing, she is 38 years old with a newborn and really having a hard time. She is just out of practice since her youngest is 12 and scared, but her doctors keep telling her to try and relax, that she will be ok.

Then there are other mothers who just cannot relax and do extreme things to get the attention by constantly running to the doctors. Her problem is far more serious and she needs psychiatric counseling. The person who suffers from Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, an attention seeking personality disorder, looks to be the center of attention from medical services. They deliberately harm the child or individual and then seek to help or get help from doctors and nurses looking for praise.