en face /äNfäs″, enfās″/ , “face-to-face”; a position in which the mother’s face and the infant’s face are approximately 8 inches apart and on the same plane, as when the mother holds the infant up in front of her face or when she nurses the child. Studies of maternal and infant bonding have shown that mothers seek eye-to-eye contact and that they will instinctively move the baby to an en face position. In addition, infants have been shown to prefer a human face to other visual stimuli and to be best able to focus at a distance of 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm).
