It is often said that giving birth is like having a blind date where the mother finally knows what the love of her life will be, few gestures are as painful, sacred and full of incredible emotions as childbirth, a vital moment that also requires special treatment. If conception is an act of love, childbirth must be equally warm and loving.
Between 16 and 22 May, the respected World Childbirth Week is celebrated. One fact to consider and warned by WHO itself (World Health Organization) itself is that in recent decades many women have complained that childbirth is sometimes too cold, dehumanized and sometimes even traumatic.
- There is no pain more intense than childbirth.
- Nor a love as deep and pure as that of a mother for this newborn who has just gave birth.
Nils Bergman is a pediatrician and neonatologist best known for his research in perinatal neuroscience. According to him, one of the most important moments to build a proper bond of attachment between mother and son will undoubtedly be the “first thousand minutes of life”. If both mother and child are under undue stress, all of this could affect the quality of this first emotional stage in the newborn.
Coming into the world must therefore be a gesture of love. We invite you to think about it.
Childbirth is a delicate time for both mother and child, and taking into account that in recent years pregnancies occur at a somewhat older age, all of which makes medical care and precautionary measures scarce to ensure smooth delivery.
However, leaving aside that from the outset, the attention of professionals in a medical centre is essential, what many women complain about and what WHO itself has been warning about for a few years now are the aspects that we will see next and which we must consider. .
Michel Odent, a renowned obstetrician who advocates humanized childbirth, recalls that “birth is love and ideally the mother and child enjoy this feeling from the first moment”. Now, what we’ve seen in recent years is this:
It is also clear that each mother will have her own particular experience, many will have benefited, but others will maintain a somewhat dark or disappointing memory where, for example, she has had something as essential as the newborn’s skin-to-skin contact with the mother. has not been provided.
Childbirth is a painful and magical moment that, in turn, is orchestrated by precise hormones and neurotransmitters that have a very specific purpose, it should be considered that at the brain level there is a neurobiological scenario that will help the mother to create this first contact. with the baby to build the bond.
Giving birth doesn’t just mean giving birth to a child, it also involves the birth of a mother.
If the woman feels stressed or scared, all of this can affect, for example, the quality of her milk, if the baby, in turn, also suffers from this stress, and if she separates prematurely from her mother to be taken to the “nursery”, small metabolic and cognitive changes can also occur.
Our DNA awaits this immediate union between mother and son, and if not, can the baby interpret the world?Like something hostile and cold. It is therefore worth considering a set of guidelines with which to provide a humanized dedication where this bond can be built on the basis of love and a warm welcome.
There are many types of births, and we will not enter here if it is better to give birth without medication, with doulas or in a hospital where it is even easier. . . the birth of the child. The important thing is, above all, not to compromise at any time the two protagonists of this wonderful event: mother and child.
Each family is free to choose how they want to give birth, but these simple aspects deserve to be taken into account:
In conclusion, giving birth is not only a protocol of medical procedure that avoids any risk, any danger, it is necessary to provide respectful and affectionate births in which the bond between mother and newborn is fostered from the first moment.