1. Soothing Perinatal Experiences

WHAT MEDICAL PERSONNEL CAN DO:

• Get acquainted with natural births (no medical interventions) to have an appropriate baseline for assumptions of what is normal.
• Remember that babies vary in gestational residence by about 50 days. So the “due date” is a guess and does not necessarily match up with a particular baby’s developmental course.
• Understand that mother and baby evolved to share a dance of hormones that guide the birth experience so as not to overstress either.
• Avoid rushing labor (which may mean changing hospital practices) which stresses the fetus and can lead to long term problems outside the purview of the birthing unit. 
• Adopt Baby-Friendly Hospital practices.
• Do not push infant circumcision (which has long term physiological and psychological consequences).
• Focus on maintaining a nurturing relationship between mother and child with minimal interference.
• Avoid:
  • Separating baby from mom after birth
  • Exposing the neonate to bright lights, chemical smells, rough touches
  • Painful procedures (scrubbing baby, poking with needles, eye gel)

WHAT EXPECTANT MOTHERS CAN DO:

• Relax during pregnancy as much as possible. 
• If at all possible, prepare for a naturalistic birth in a birthing center.
• Avoid social and emotional stress because it gets transferred to the baby.
• Avoid trauma and induced pain to baby at birth which come from: 

1. Circumcision (causes PTSD in many children, plus long term physical and psychological impairments). See Doctors Opposing Circumcision for lots of information.
2. Avoid environmental toxins (air, food, water, consumer products) which can not only impair brain function and intelligence, but make one feel less well and socially withdrawn. Environmental Working Group has lists of product ratings.

WHAT NEW PARENTS CAN DO

·  No matter how pregnancy and birth went, make sure to keep baby with you after birth, preferably skin-to-skin. Baby needs to reconnect to mother after the separation experience.

·  Take the time to learn the signals of the child in the first days and weeks after birth.

·  Honor the child’s needs and treat them as if they are still a fetus—recognizing and meeting their needs right away to keep them in a calm state.

Why are soothing perinatal experiences important?[DN1] 

Gestational experiences shap brain function. If a mother is extensively distressed, fetal brain development is affected, for example, growing a stress-reactive brain where the infant will be more irritable (Davis et al., 2005; Gray et al., 2017; Lou et al., 1994; O’Donnel, 2009)

Childbirth is naturally timed to indicate when the child is ready to be born. Babies vary by about 55 days how long they choose to stay in the womb (40-48 weeks; Montagu 1968), though sometimes exiting the womb early because of problematic development or maternal stress.

Natural birth is a coordinated back-and-forth dance between mother and baby guided by hormones. Natural oxytocin and epinephrine are released by the mother during unimpeded labor, suppressing pain, coordinating uterine contractions and supporting emotional bonding through hormone releases that facilitate memory and social reward (Lévy, Kendrick, Goode, Guevara-Guzman, Keverne, 1995).

Medicalized birth practices typically interfere with nature’s design for birth, for example, setting a ‘due date’ and sticking to it. Medical efficiency priorities change the experience of birth with physical interference such as rushing labor with artificial oxytocin, interfering with its natural production in mother and baby. Psychological interference is often built up from cultural narratives about birth pain and from medical personnel who promote anxiety causing the contraction of uterine muscles instead of their relaxing into the push and pull of labor. These things and many other interfering factors can cause fetal distress and lead to major surgery—cesarean section—to complete the birth.  

Vaginal birth may parallel the extensive licking that other newborn mammals receive from their mothers (Montagu, 1978). In fact, the physiological stress of natural birth triggers high levels of mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) which is related to nutrient utilization critical for normal development and survival of hippocampal and other brain neurons, affecting memory and other functions in adulthood (Simon-Areces, Dietrich, Hermes, Garcia-Segura, Arevalo et al., 2012). Similar to mammals who go unlicked, cesarean-birthed babies can have respiratory, digestive and/or elimination problems unless they are stimulated with massage.

A mother’s natural instinct (in a natural birth) is to keep baby close afterwards. Their skin-to-skin contact helps both recover from the mobilizing hormones of birth and relax into the bonding hormones that help both heal from the experience of birth.

Discover the Evolved Nest articles on pregnancy and birth on Kindred Magazine here.

What Adults Did To Me At Birth: A Baby’s Point Of View

Five Things NOT to Do to Babies

Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Babies

Raising a Baby Well: Like Climbing Mount Everest

Dangers of “Crying It Out”

The ‘On-Demand’ Life And The Basic Needs Of Babies

Baselines For Babies – The Best Parenting Style For Kids Is Not The Best For Babies

The Roots Of Pathology: Authoritarianism Towards Babies

Make America’s Children Healthy (Again): Part One

Basic Needs And Self Actualization

The Original Sin Of Babies

Myths About Circumcision You Probably Believe

Respecting Babies And Young Children

Bullying Starts With Babies

How Modern Societies Violate Human Development

Can You Spoil A Baby?

Why Babies Need Dads Too

Parents Misled By Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Reports

Why Keep Baby Happy? A Baby’s Cry Is A Late Signal Of Discomfort

How Babies Learn The Story Of Separation

Why Do Babies Need A Bill Of Rights?

Babies Are Not Machines: Parents are co-constructing a human being

Democracy Starts With Babies, With Responsive, Nested Care

NOTE: Babies are children under about age 2.5 years.

NOTE: The terms motherliness, mothering, mother love, good enough mothers refer to empathic care or nurturing that mothers and other adults can provide. 

The Evolved Nest is happy to launch the 28 Day Baby Care campaign in celebration of Attachment Parenting Month, in October 2020. You can find out more about support for your attachment parenting choices on our Evolved Nest Components page, and on the Attachment Parenting International website.

There is a lot of misinformation about babies and their needs, and parents are often encouraged to ignore baby’s signals. Bad idea. Babies are “half-baked” at birth and have much to learn with the help of physical and emotional support from caregivers. Taking care of baby’s needs is an investment that pays off with a happier, healthier child and adult. Here are 28 days of reminders about babies and their needs.

The full 28 day card campaign can be found on the Evolved Nest's website here under Self-Nesting Tools here. Find the card series below and on our social media pages.

Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health. APPPAH illuminates the life-long impact of conception, pregnancy and birth on babies, families and society. APPPAH’s mission is to educate professionals and the public about, and advocate for, the life-changing discoveries made in the area of prenatal and perinatal psychology and health.

Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative.  The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global program that was launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in 1991 to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for infant feeding and mother/baby bonding. It recognizes and awards birthing facilities who successfully implement the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (i) and the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes (ii). The BFHI assists hospitals in giving all mothers the information, confidence, and skills necessary to successfully initiate and continue breastfeeding their babies or feeding formula safely, and gives special recognition to hospitals that have done so.

Birthing the Future. The mission of Birthing The Future®, is to gather, synthesize, and disseminate the finest world wisdom about birthing and the care of mothers and babies from pre-conception to the first birthday.

Black Mamas Matter is a Black women-led cross-sectoral alliance. We center Black mamas to advocate, drive research, build power, and shift culture for Black maternal health, rights, and justice. We envision a world where Black mamas have the rights, respect, and resources to thrive before, during, and after pregnancy.

The Black Maternal Health Caucus. Congresswomen Alma Adams and Lauren Underwood founded the Black Maternal Health Caucus (BMHC) in April 2019 to improve health outcomes for black pregnant and postpartum people. According to a press release from Adams’ office, the caucus “aims to raise awareness within Congress to establish black maternal health as a national priority and explore and advocate for effective, evidence-based, culturally-competent policies and best practices for health outcomes for black mothers.”

Black Women Birthing Justice. Black Women Birthing Justice is a collective of African-American, African, Caribbean and multiracial women who are committed to transforming birthing experiences for Black women and transfolks. Our vision is that that every pregnant person should have an empowering birthing experience, free of unnecessary medical interventions. Our goals are to educate, to document birth stories and to raise awareness about birthing alternatives. We aim to challenge medical violence, rebuild confidence in our ability to give birth and decrease disproportionate maternal and infant mortality.

The Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute is to optimize quality of care for women across the life span and to narrow gaps in treatment and outcomes in underserved populations.

CAPPA, Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association.  For over a decade, CAPPA’s mission has been to offer comprehensive, evidence-based education, certification, professional membership and training to childbirth educators, lactation educators, labor doulas, antepartum doulas and postpartum doulas worldwide. CAPPA is proud to provide new and expectant families access to these professionals here.

Cesarean Statistics for Your Local Hospital.  Find C-section and VBAC, vaginal birth after Cesarean, rates for your local hospital.

Doulas of North America. Pardon us for bragging, but we are the oldest, largest and most respected doula association in the world. Our founders are among the foremost experts on doula care, and DONA International certification is a widely respected measure of quality and professionalism. We are an international, non-profit organization of doulas that strives to have every doula trained / educated to provide the highest quality / standards for birth and/or postpartum support to birthing women and their families.

Every Mother Counts is a non-profit organization working to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere. We work to achieve quality, respectful, and equitable maternity care for all by giving grants and working with partners and thought leaders to increase awareness and mobilize communities to take action. 

Free Birth Society. Free Birth Society is bringing wild pregnancy, freebirth, and sovereign midwifery to mainstream culture. Freebirth is defined as birthing outside the medical paradigm at home with your trusted loved ones. It is the intentional choice to allow birth to unfold spontaneously at home, in the absence of any hired birth professionals. In almost all cases, it is the optimal choice for motherbaby. 

Intact America. Intact America works to protect babies and children from circumcision and all other forms of medically unnecessary genital alteration, whether carried out for cultural conformity or profit, in medical or non-medical settings. We seek to achieve our goals through education, advocacy, public policy reform, and the empowerment of our supporters, partners, and volunteers. You can read our Statement of Principles here.

International Cesarean Awareness Network. The International Cesarean Awareness Network, Inc (ICAN) was formed over 25 years ago in order to support women in their journey towards understanding the risks of cesarean section and with the purpose of helping them have healthy births and healthy lives after undergoing the surgery that changed them.

Midwives and Mothers in Action, MAMA, The MAMA campaign is a collaborative effort by the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NACPM), Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), Citizens for Midwifery (CfM), International Center for Traditional Childbearing (ICTC), North American Registry of Midwives (NARM), and the Midwifery Education Accreditation Council (MEAC). This partnership is now at work to gain federal recognition of Certified Professional Midwives so that women and families will have increased access to quality, affordable maternity care in the settings of their choice.

MomsRising is a nonpartisan organization pushing for cultural and legislative change around various pressing issues, like gun safety, paid family leave, and maternal justice. MomsRising members serve on state maternal mortality review committees, partner with legislators on local and state policies, and call, visit, and write to elected leaders, among other ventures.

National Association of Certified Professional Midwives  

North American Registry of Midwives.  

Midwifery Today. Well-written technical articles by doctors, midwives, doulas, childbirth educators, nutritionists, herbalists and other practitioners. Birth stories that are beautifully written and have something to teach the practitioner. Stories about midwifery practices in other countries. Well-written academic articles on the subject of midwifery by experts.

PL+US. Paid Leave for the United States. s the national campaign to win paid family leave by 2022. Founded by Katie Bethell, who Fortune Magazine named one of the world’s greatest leaders, the organization in partnership with employees, employers, consumers, and investors has won paid family leave for nearly 6 million at companies like Walmart, Starbucks, CVS and more.

Postpartum Support International, PSI. Postpartum Support International (PSI) was founded in 1987 by Jane Honikman in Santa Barbara, California. The purpose of the organization is to increase awareness among public and professional communities about the emotional changes that women experience during pregnancy and postpartum. Approximately 15% of all women will experience postpartum depression following the birth of a child. Up to 10% will experience depression or anxiety during pregnancy. When the mental health of the mother is compromised, it affects the entire family.

Reports

Black Mamas Matter Alliance’s Report: Setting the Standard for Holistic Care of and for Black Women 

Advancing Birth Justice: Community-Based Doula Models as a Standard of Care for Ending Racial Disparities

Uplifting Birth Justice Through Doula Care!

Books

Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty

Reproductive Justice: An Introduction

Birthing Justice: Black Women, Pregnancy, and Childbirth

Radical Reproductive Justice: Foundation, Theory, Practice, Critique

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