Affective Birth Preparation (Haptonomie)
Is an approach that guides couples through pregnancy and birth, allowing them to develop an affective touch and connection with their babies.
It’s main objective is to develop a sense of security in the baby in the womb and in the parental couple. It develops the autonomy of the 3 of them as their emotional needs and requirements are being heard and met through the experiment of a real affective presence. Fathers learn to be very helpful and present for their wives throughout labour as they have developed as close bond with their babies and are emotionally available for their partners.
Sessions: between 45 minutes and 1 hour
The sessions are tailor made to the parents needs, according to the number and qualifications of other professionals around the couple.
Pregnancy is a 9 months journey, the process of becoming a parent needs time to evolve and slowly become real. Future fathers and future mothers don't share the experience the same way, the work with the couple is essentially to bring consciousness to the process, to help each other understand what is going on internally and externally and to equip parents with developing a high quality level of presence to the process and to their babies.
Number of sessions?
From 5 to 10 sessions, including a session after birth to help the mother bring closure to her body experience of birth and to let out any difficult aspect of the process.
The first sessions are concentrated on the various games and the responses of the baby to it's parents touch and the process of becoming a parent.
The later sessions will be concentrating on the journey of giving birth, preparing for labour with massage techniques, voice work, breathing, body movements and positions, visualisations, ways to reduce the intensity of contractions and also information about the various ways in which labour can start and the different ways to give birth.
We will briefly look at parent's own birth , to see if there might have been some difficult experience and we will look at potential fears or
We will go through the emotions, potential fears that may be present and look at the physiological and emotional aspects of both becoming parents and giving birth to a baby.
The main goals are the following:
1. Provide babies with a sense of security
2. Give parents and especially fathers tools to be active during pregnancy and birth
3. Develop the quality of presence of parents for their baby during pregnancy and birth
4. Provide with an opportunity to understand the birth process, go through each one's emotions and understand each other
Parents prepare for the arrival of their baby. Since the couple has developed a strong affective bond with its baby over the pregnancy, mothers feel more self confident and secure, they have developed an understanding of what feels right for them and their baby and they feel empowered to give birth to their baby with the help of their companion and the professionals who will be with them at that time.
Birth preparation involves physiological aspects of pregnancy and birth as well as emotional aspects. All possible difficult aspects are being looked at. Fathers are actively involved, they learn to be there for their partner and baby, how to make them feel secure and how to help the mother overcome fear and pain. The various tools learnt help parents embrace the process of labour and develop the quality of their presence to the baby, which in turns influences the emotional experience of birth for the baby.
Birth becomes a real unique 3some experience, which largely enriches the new family’s life.
Games in the womb:
Parents play games with their babies, it is a kind of ‘relational’ game in which parents make their baby feel that he /she is a real person in their lives and that they are waiting for him/her to come and join them in love and respect. It helps babies feel welcome and it in turns develops a real sense of security in them. It helps fathers be involved in a very ‘concrete’ way from the beginning of pregnancy. There are various ways to play with one’s baby in the womb.
Games sessions usually start as early as 4 months of pregnancy, as soon as a mother feels her baby move.
For appointments thanks to contact me!