Peaches Geldof: How She Reconciled Heroin Use And Motherhood

In such awful circumstances, we can't help wanting to understand what actually happened.

Top Harley Street psychiatrist Dr. Julian Bird helps us out, by taking a look into her mind.

As Britain let out a collective gasp this morning, following the news indicating that heroin was the cause of Peaches Geldof's death, there was one question on a lot of people's lips.

How could someone who had been so outspoken about conscious, supportive, attachment parenting techniques resort to drug taking?

To say that Peaches Geldof had a difficult upbringing would be an understatement.

Her parents went through a bitter divorce when she was very young and her mother, journalist and television personality Paula Yates, died of a heroin overdose when she was only 11 years-old.

These circumstances could have had untold effects on her mental wellbeing.

And there has been much speculation about exactly what sort of effects these might have been.

In recent times, though, she appeared to have totally turned her life around, thanks to the birth of her two children, Astala and Phaedra, and her energetic belief in the principles of attachment parenting.

Principles which she defended with some aplomb in a war of words with our own columnist Katy Hopkins.

In an interview with Mother & Baby, Peaches talked about her feelings towards her children: "I felt finally anchored in place, with lives that literally depend on me, and I am not about to let them down, not for anyone or anything."

With such clear intentions, it seems so strange that Peaches would turn to something as potentially dangerous as drug taking.

"It's about compartmentalisation," says Dr. Bird, "which means finding a way to rationalise why the outcome of your actions will be different to the outcome of anyone else doing the same thing."

"In other words, Peaches will have found a way to convince herself that what she was doing wasn't as dangerous for her, perhaps because it was a one-off or because she felt safe in the environment she was in."

"It's part of the human condition," Dr. Bird continues.

"We all do it. We develop an explanation for ourselves, as to why our own circumstances are unique or as to why the outcome will be different for us."

As Peaches was such a champion of "attachment parenting" - which can involve a higher level of one-on-one contact between parent and baby, longer than average breast-feeding and co-sleeping - we wondered whether Astala and Phaedra would suffer differently to children from a non-attachment parenting household.

To understand a bit better, we spoke to Michelle Mattesini, founder and director of Attachment Parenting UK.

"Children thrive when they are securely attached to their primary attachment figures," she said.

"The effect of such sudden loss cannot be measured, but the importance of the other significant relationships in [Astala and Phaedra's] lives will be invaluable in offering a sense of safety, love, trust and the ability to adapt to new situations."

So, it looks like Peaches' husband, musician Tom Cohen, is going to have to step up to the plate, keeping up the attachment practices that Peaches and he started,  in order to make sure that their two little ones continue to feel secure.

And as Mother & Baby reported, Peaches often found support from Tom's mother Sue, so we're sure she will continue to play a strong role.

"In all circumstances, particularly in tragic times, children need the committed, consistent and loving support of adults who are able to give them the compassion and care they need," says Michelle.

The only other question on everyone's lips is, of course, whether her two children could have been affected medically, by the presence of drugs.

Dr. Bird had the answer to this too.

"It depends on two things - whether she was still breast-feeding and how often she was likely to have had heroin in her system," he said.

"As the FDA will tell you, breastfeeding with heroin in your bloodstream is absolutely harmful for your baby."

"Heroin is an opiate and if opiates are excreted in the breastmilk, they can have disastrous effects. They can encourage addiction in the child and cause problems with the liver, lungs and brain development."

"On top of this," Dr. Bird continues, "heroin is often cut with substances that are even more toxic than the drug itself. Talcom powder, for example, can cause real issues with blood vessels if it has been injected."

As if the tragedy of her death wasn't bad enough.

We hope, for the sake of Phaedra and Astala, that the results of the toxicology report were not a sign of more frequent drug use.