Last year I started the Prenatal and Perinatal Educator (PPNE) Certificate Program developed by APPPAH (Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health). This is my first essay, on module 1 – PPNE Foundation and I decided to make it public to promote the program and all the new information regarding this discipline. 

RO: Dragi cititori ai blogului, voi gasi timp in viitor sa traduc in limba romana acest articol. EN: Romanian readers, I will find some time to translate it for you.   

Since last year I haven’t heard about pre and perinatal psychology although I kept my mind open to the latest trends in psychology. In the past, as a pregnant woman, I started to read about the baby in my womb and the birthing process. All the materials that I found in that period and the information from my doctor were about the physical development of the baby and my physical status. I had a lot of emotional challenges in my pregnancy and the need to have a more holistic approach, more appropriate with the triad body-mind-soul.

My quest took me to discover prenatal and perinatal psychology, a „Holy Grail” of answers to my many questions regarding the bonding with the baby, the impact of mothers’ emotions in pregnancy and most important „the secret life of the unborn”. The first articles and books were full of revelations. I had many talks with family and friends that started with „do you know that the baby in the womb…”. Suddenly my focus was not only on the emotional life of the mother but also on the baby, the way he experienced life before and after birth, and the connections with the family and with the environment.

All the information contributes to the clear image that the baby (from conception to the first 3 years) is a human that interacts and develops on all levels: physical, mental, emotional, relational and spiritual. In pre and perinatal psychology the babies are reclaiming their position: „We are conscious sentient beings. We who are conceived in love have a better start, no matter how that conception takes place. We who are misconceived can participate in the decision not to incarnate. We know innately how to birth ourselves. We need to be encouraged, not forced into this reality. We who are protected before we’re born have a better chance of being healthy babies and we tend to birth ourselves with strength. We need secure attachments at birth to build self-esteem and trust in the world.” (Morningstar, S. 2013)

Due to this holistic and complex approach, prenatal and perinatal psychology developed as an „interdisciplinary study of the earliest periods in human development, including conception, time in the womb, experiences during and after birth, and experiences with caregivers and the family system through the first year following birth. Theory and research in multiple disciplines, including embryology, morphogenesis, bioengineering, evolutionary biology, psychophysiology, behavioral perinatology, neurobiology affective neuroscience, attachment, and traumatology, provide the foundation for the exploration of how experiences during this critical developmental period impact an individual. Knowledge from these fields illuminates the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional impacts of our earliest experiences and how they form enduring response patterns that shape our development, behavior and health over the life span.” (Weinstein, 2016)

The process of development of a human being is a continuous process, a soul journey that reminds us of the hero who is leaving his home (the place from where our soul comes – Soul Group/Over Soul/ Higher Soul), exceeding challenges (the challenge of birthing), interact with other characters (ex. his parents, midwife) and „live happily ever after” (until his death).

From the point of view of pre and perinatal psychology, we are focusing on the following stages: preconception, conception, implantation, the time in the womb, birth and the first three years of the baby, which have huge importance for the future development of the individual and the society.

Human development is „an approach that is focused on people and their opportunities and choices” (UNDP). From this perspective, pre and perinatal psychology is useful not only for babies in the womb, newborns, preparing to become pregnant or already pregnant women and mothers, but it has benefits for a larger group of people, for example: adults and older children that are healing their early traumas, specialists from different areas of expertise that want to have a deeper knowledge and expertise regarding the early period in life, social policy experts that want to have a long term view regarding the development of the society.

Pre and perinatal psychology offers the following opportunities and choices for people for them „to develop to their full potential and to have a reasonable chance of leading productive and creative lives that they value. ”(UNDP):

• Bonding and attachment: Secure attachments start from preconception, are developed prenatally and in the first years of life and are the primary foundation for supportive, loving and healthy relations. „Optimal foundations of secure attachment and healthy relationships are predicated upon optimal relationships during the preconception period, during pregnancy, the birth experience and the first year of life.”(Glenn, M. & McCarty, WA., 2008)

• Epigenetics: It’s not only the story carried in our genes that creates the human. The environment has a great influence on how genes are expressed. Many studies from different fields (ex. medicine, epigenetics, psychology, nutrition) confirm that the environment (chemicals/toxins, pollution), mother’s health (medical health problems), nutrition, medication and addictions (ex. alcohol & drugs), emotional state (thoughts, stress), family stories (ex. „ghosts and echos”) influences the child development from the womb to his adult life and even future generations. „Optimal foundations for growth and resiliency, including brain development, emotional intelligence, and self-regulation are predicated upon optimal conditions during the pre-conception period, pregnancy, birth and the first year of life.”(Glenn, M. & McCarty, WA., 2008)

• Parenthood: „Parenthood involves far more than uniting sperm and ova: it involves nourishing, protecting, guiding, and helping children. The failure of parenthood is the crack in the dike of civilization. […] The transformation we seek is not from the top down but from the bottom up: primal change, changed foundations. Children cannot be transformed without first transforming parents into aware, sensitive, loving persons. And probably parents cannot be transformed without education about prenatal life and support and love for them. This represents a new realism, that society has its origins in parents and babies and a new realism that nurturance is the core of parenting-the fuel of love that makes things work. Look at the world around you. Can human development go forward without nurturance to mind and spirit?” (Chamberlain, D. B., 1994)

• Personal development & health in adults: „The foundational benefit of pre and perinatal therapy is that it will teach you about your emotional self, your thinking and beliefs, and the patterns you play out in relationships, especially those whose roots lie in your beginnings and remain in your unconscious, affecting your current life. Your ancestral patterns, prenatal period, birth and first 18 months of life experiences are encoded into your body and in your implicit memory. If powerful and unaddressed, these encoded memories often run in the background, creating filters for life’s experiences for positive and negative recapitulating patterns. These patterns can also include health issues, including cardiac, respiratory and immune system disorders. Fifty percent of the etiology of these health issues stems from prenatal experiences.” (White, K. & Martin, M., 2012)

• Moral development and behavior: „A person’s moral development and behavior begin with, and are influenced by prenatal and perinatal experiences. Any design or model for moral education must acknowledge the formative influence of these prenatal and perinatal experiences on later moral development. […] human development that is dependent on mutual connection and affectional bonding between people. When honored, this biological design leads a person from conception to maturity through death with a sense of belonging to a group. A person cannot become fully human, capable of functioning in a group, without this sense of belonging. Within the group, the individual can be guided toward moral conduct. Since the origins of love as well as of alienation and violence lie in prenatal and perinatal life, everything possible must be done on behalf of the prenate and neonate to ensure that he or she grows into a healthy, feeling child. Any comprehensive design for moral education must recognize the critical importance of this early foundation.” (Dosh, M.A., 1999)

• Best choices for human development in the early period

• Conscious conception: The preconception and conception period is very important in human development because the „ground” in which the new baby will come must be healed from the personal and family ghosts and nurtured with awareness, respect and love for the new soul. Also, the body of the woman must receive nutritional support to hold the pregnancy. „An adult’s unconscious pre and perinatal pattern can influence how a baby is conceived, nurtured, born and raised.” (White, K. & Martin, M., 2012) 
• Birthing practices and recovery from birth: It’s proven that births with little or no intervention are optimal for babies and mothers. The way the baby was birth will imprint the human with unconscious patterns that will influence the mental and emotional health. „If all parents, midwives, nurses, and obstetricians understood that babies are fully aware and intelligent both before and during their births, it could transform the way babies are welcomed into the world.” (Chamberlain, D. B., 1994)
• Skin-to-skin and self-attachment: „The benefits of skin-to-skin practices after birth include temperature regulation, improved breastfeeding initiation rates, glucose regulation, normalized heart rate variability, increased bonding between mom and baby, and decreased crying and fear.” (White, K. & Martin, M., 2012)
• Breastfeeding: „WHO and UNICEF recommend that children initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life – meaning no other foods or liquids are provided, including water. Infants should be breastfed on demand – that is as often as the child wants, day and night. ” (WHO) Breastfeeding is improving the physical health of mother and child, but also to improve intellectual and psycho-emotional outcomes.
• Family and community support for mothers: When mothers receive support during pregnancy and postpartum period the rates of depression and anxiety are low. Due to the intimate connection between mother and baby, the emotional states of the mother are transmitted to the fetus/baby, which can be developed later in his life into behavioral, physical and emotional problems.
• Education & Services: Prenatal education is our true „primary education”, as Dr. Chamberlain, said and it’s most important to:
  • support babies and their families with education and services from the preconception period: „These early diminishing patterns are embedded below the level of the conscious mind in the implicit memory system, subconscious, and somatic patterns. Professionals trained in primary psychology (prenatal and perinatal psychology) can identify these patterns and support babies, children, parents and adults to heal and shift these primary patterns to more life-enhancing ones at any age. When parents resolve and heal their unresolved issues from their child’s pregnancy and birth, their children benefit at any age.”(Glenn, M. & McCarty, WA., 2008) 
  • create a network of pre and perinatal specialists that will work with babies and families. „Prenatal and perinatal psychology professionals are trained to work directly with babies and their parents during the prenatal and postnatal period to prevent and treat early trauma, thereby preventing a potential cascade of later problems.[…] we most effectively prevent the costly cascading effects of less than optimal beginnings, both in terms of loss of human potential and human capital.” (Glenn, M. & McCarty, WA., 2008)

References:

1. Ann Diamond Weinstein, Prenatal Development and Parents’ Lived Experiences (W.W. Norton & Company, 2016), p 5.

2. Glenn, M. & McCarty, WA. (2008) Investing in human potential from the beginning of life: key to maximizing human capital. Journal of the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health23(2): 117-136.

3. Morningstar, S. (2013). Voices of the children. Position paper, Association for Preand Perinatal Psychology and Health.

4. White, K. & Martin, M. (2012). Pre and perinatal experiences for health and healing. Pathways to Family Wellness, 36, 10-19.

5. Chamberlain, D. B.. (Spring 1994).How Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Can Transform the World. Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal 8. 3 : 187-199

6. Dosh, M.A. (1999). Prenatal and Perinatal Foundations of Moral Development . Journal of the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health 13(3-4): 213- 223

7. World Health Organization. Breastfeeding. Recommendations. https://www.who.int/health-topics/breastfeeding

8. United Nations Development Program. About Human Development. What is human development?. http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev