Obstetricians… Two of the mothers I visited today at the breastfeeding clinic recounted their birth stories to me. Though both had been similar in the workings (hospital births, vaginal, no epidural, some synthetic oxytocin), each mother had a completely different story to tell. For one, it had been a wonderful, empowering experience. For…
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes a “positive childbirth experience” as a significant end point for all women undergoing labor. It defines a positive childbirth experience as one that fulfils or exceeds a woman’s prior personal and sociocultural beliefs and expectations, including giving birth to a healthy baby in a clinically and psychologically safe environment…
Newborns have a series of highly conserved neuroendcrine behaviours that we see as the “breast-crawl”, when babies placed skin to skin on their mothers immadiately after birth crawl to the breast, attach and suckle. This behaviour has been called Widström’s 9 Stages of Newborn Behavior. A recent study by Widstrom´s group found a strong inverse…
Brains of mothers and their babies synchronize more easily when mother is happy, according to a new study from Cambridge University. Researchers discovered that the brains of a mother and her infant form a megaweb where brainwaves align, which permits better connection and empathy. But the level of connectivity is dependent on mother´s emotional state.…
The neurobiology of birth has one purpose: to create a caring bond between the mother and her infant. Nature does not only seek to secure the survival of the young human, but to gain maximum emotional, social and physical fitness. If there is something all new parents find out it is that their infant´s heads…
By Ibone Olza, MD, PhD, perinatal psychiatrist Babies feel, listen, perceive, know, understand, are moved, express, communicate. Babies love. They give. Give smiles, caresses, gazes, babbles. They gift us. They move us. They fill us. Babies are a transforming presence for those that love, care, and live with them. However, the modern world denies…
By Esther Ramírez Matos, perinatal psychologist and family therapist My body spoke to me again, last night while I was calmly reading a novel about maternity. As a traumatic birth was described, after which mother and infant were separated, I felt an intense pain in my pelvic area; I had not been so uncomfortable in…
The quality of mother–child interactions is central in the social and emotional development of the child. It is the process by which infants are initiated into the social world. But interactions need time and space – they requiere mother and infant to be together. A recent study by Plotka, R. & Busch-Rossnagel…
“There are no feet too small to leave prints on this earth.” The child that dies during the perinatal stage: lifelong impact on the family Although there has traditionally been silence in our society about children who die at the beginning of life, this silence has been unravelling. Scientific papers and worldly magazines, support groups…
Use of opioids during pregnancy can result in a drug withdrawal syndrome in newborns called neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). A recent analysis of the extent, context, and costs of NAS shows that it is rising worldwide. In the United States, substance use among pregnant and postpartum women is a public health issue. An estimated one…
