Contents
Emotional preparation for birth
Definition
La emotional preparation for birth strictly speaking is not therapy. It is an approach that aims to help parents establish with their baby – several months before his birth – a relation intimate, affectionate and very tangible. For many women, this happens quite naturally, but for others, and especially for men, it can be difficult to truly relate to the unborn baby. It is above all to them that the emotional preparation for birth is addressed. |
La emotional preparation for birth offers parents the right attitude and tools to:
- live a real relation reciprocal love with the fetus during pregnancy;
- deliver the baby in a accompagnement conscious and tender;
- guide the little child to his autonomy during the first year of his life.
Caregivers in emotional preparation for birth are trained to give future parents the basic information that can be found in prenatal classes. However, they place more emphasis on the aspect of emotional relationship with the unborn child. This can be done in private lessons, adapted to the needs of parents according to a schedule that suits them, or in group lessons, offering the possibility of exchanging with other couples who live the same concerns. By attaching great importance to emotional experience, the approach aims at the short and long term well-being of the 3 individuals in question, the baby (from its intrauterine life), the mother and father.
The approach is largely inspired by haptonomy, a “science of human interactions and affective relationships”, developed by the Dutchman Frans Veldman in the early 1980s. At the turn of the 2000s, the Belgian psychologist and analytical psychotherapist Brigitte Dohmen, who had followed the training of Frans Veldman, improved the approach. She has chosen to add to the central concept of so-called affective and “confirming” presence of haptonomy, practices inspired by prenatal song, psychology development, osteopathy and the work of perineum, thus creating emotional preparation for birth.
Hello baby, here we are … Guided by the caregiver, the 2 parents learn to create emotional contacts with the unborn child through the quality of présence, toucher and the voice. The technique includes in particular “relationship games”, through which parents make their toddler feel that he is already a real person for them and that he is expected with love and respect. From the 3e months of pregnancy, it seems that the fetus may react to touching. He would be able, for example, to move according to the movements of the hands of the father or the mother placed on the belly of this one. Practitioners of the approach say that the baby could thus, even before birth, feel a sense of internal security. This approach promotes a attachment and early investment by both parents. In particular, it allows the father to strengthen its role by not having to wait for the birth of the child to establish a personal relationship with it – as the mother can already do naturally. |
La emotional preparation for birth also includes a support component at the time ofdelivery. The caregiver plays a role of comfort and support, among others with the father. She does not take his place, but advises him on what to do and encourages him to get as involved as possible with his partner. She can, for example, massage the mother’s back while her partner looks her in the eyes, inviting her to breathe deeply. Thanks to her experience and the intimate bonds she has created with the parents, the caregiver can also help them make decisions when the birthing process presents an unexpected situation. (Note that this type of work is emotional support only, and that this training does not provide the skills necessary to intervene technically during childbirth.)
Support can also continue for several months after childbirth to help parents decode their baby’s messages. This would allow them to better perceive and understand their needs and to intervene appropriately. This dynamic would give moreInsurance parents and a better state of Products to the child.
Even though toucher is a natural gesture and even if the future parents are already filled with tenderness for their baby, it seems that the art of touch is not innate, at least not in everyone. The men, in particular, would need to be encouraged in the practice of affective touch, a touch that has neither the coldness of technical touch nor the ambiguity of sensual touch.
La pregnancy and the birth are seen as stages in a love story that is experienced at 3.
Therapeutic applications of emotional preparation for birth
La emotional preparation for birth is both a program ofeducation parents in the making and aaccompagnement. It specifically concerns the relationship between parents and baby. With the objective of developing the safety and autonomy of everyone (baby, mom, dad) by taking into account their specific psycho-emotional needs1, emotional preparation for birth has no specific therapeutic aim.
To our knowledge, no research on this approach has been published in scientific journals.
Emotional preparation for birth in practice
Whether during the pregnancy or subsequently, the parents decide, with the resource person, the number of meetings. To fully explore topics related todelivery and to master contact techniques, we suggest 6 to 12 meetings.
Classes and support are offered to parents by various health professionals who have received specific training. They may be midwives, osteopaths, birth attendants, nurses, psychotherapists or others.
The program of emotional preparation for birth is offered in French-speaking Europe and Quebec.
Vocational training in emotional preparation for birth
As a first step, applicants must undergo training in communication by touch which aims to raise awareness of all that is at stake concerning touch, on the sensory, relational, phantasmatic, unconscious and energetic levels. You also learn to improve your perceptual capacity and your quality of présence in contact. This training includes 24 working days spread over 2 years.
Then the training in emotional preparation for birth covers the psychological and unconscious aspects of pregnancy; baby contact games in utero through affective touch and prenatal singing; emotional support for the baby during birth; the psychological experience of childbirth and its physiology. This training also includes 24 working days spread over 2 years.
Emotional preparation for birth – Books, etc.
Dohmen B, Gere C, Mispelaere C. Three fairies for a plea – In praise of a loving and conscious birth, Éditions Amyris, Belgium / France, 2004.
Brigitte Dohmen, creator of emotional preparation for birth, a midwife and a gynecologist, deplore the fact that normal pregnancy and natural birth are on the way out and propose to place them in their human, emotional and emotional context.
Emotional preparation for birth – Sites of interest
Emotional preparation for birth
http://naissanceaffective.com
Quebec network of birth attendants
http://naissance.ca