#youarenotabadmother if you need help after you give birth

#youarenotabadmother if you need help after you give birth. Motherhood requires social support. The postpartum period in the human species is designed to happen within a maternal social network. Support from other mothers helps make the experience a better one and prevents psychological distress. Let´s create those networks – let´s care for mothers.   If…

Breastfeeding, an anchor in hope

In this reduced lockdown space, where exalted emotions cry like wounds – both from adults and from children – few things grant us fresh air. Breastfeeding is more than ever a restful place, a shared caress, an interior paradise, a fountain of hope for life, that life which we will dive back into some day.…

Oxytocin vs Coronavirus

by Ibone Olza, perinatal psychiatrist Cooperate or compete. Trust or fear. Share or fight. Accompany or isolate. In the end, there are only two states: love or fear, and one is the absence of the other. The more love, less fear. The more fear, less love (in the words of Abuela Margarita).   Hard choices,…

Love is the foundation of health

By Ana G Uriarte MD, child & adolescent psychiatrist and systemic therapist.   Love is the foundation of health – this is what I felt compelled to remember today. I am not giving recommendations of “what to do” with babies, toddlers and children during these times. There are many, and many of the good, ideas…

Kangaroo care in term infants favors neurodevelopment and emotional regulation

As the world prioritizes physical distance to detain or slow down the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), a new study from Florida Atlantic University shows that physical contact between mother and infant is essential for optimal neurological development, maturation and regulation during infancy.   Mother-infant dyads show high oxytocin levels and are less impacted by stress, which…