2023-08-22 14:00:28
Compared to other mammals, baby sapiens is born prematurely. Several developments have “fixed” this situation. From the discovery of fire, which made it possible to transfer digestive vitality to the development of the cerebral cortex and led to larger brains, to the modification of the pelvises during the evolution towards bipedalism, the skulls of our babies would not pass through it. more if they were to be released “eventually”. We then give birth almost a year early, as if the first year of life were the externalized part of pregnancy. That is to say, we move from a relatively passive process (feeding, putting to sleep, protecting the child in the womb), to a very active approach: very frequent food needs of the infant and in limited quantities, care of falling asleep, among other things, transporting your child who cannot move, etc. This state of great dependence involves a mother-child dyad who must be generously supported.
The needs of babies and mothers
Although the current material and human environment no longer has anything comparable to the original environment of our species, the biological and emotional needs of babies remained the same as in the Paleolithic, or a vital need for proximity. We are also a carried species, and not altricial. The newborn does not “need” a perfectly decorated room, but interactions, warmth, contact and protection. And he doesn’t know that there is no danger when he is alone in the cot in his silent room. As a result of signals contrary to those having shaped evolution, the baby cries. He thus expresses his distress, like a survival strategy, with these noises perceived as unbearable and supposed to force adults to take care of him. This is a reality for which few mothers, and more generally couples or families, are prepared, which can produce unfortunate feelings (incompetence, invasion…), and insufficient logistics to organize his new daily life. This gap in expectations also affects the mother, who may suffer from loneliness (increasing the baby’s state of suffering).
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Maternal difficulties
They can find their origin in a traumatic childbirth. Various natural tools can then complete therapeutic work: gemmotherapy, floral elixirs, passionflower, lemon balm, hawthorn, lithium oligotherapy, ashwagandha, limbic system reflexology, EMDR, St. John’s wort (excluding treatment or contraception). Magnesium supplementation is often necessary to compensate for its use in the body during significant stress.
It is said that “ it takes a village to raise a child “, et many cultures have preserved a social organization to surround these passages of life : community network, transmission of mothering gestures, reduction of stewardship tasks, assurance of supplies, help with infant care… In the West, the village has disappeared, the time given to a mother following birth is inadequate for the mother-child dyadand mothering gestures are dictated by standards disconnected from the real needs of newborns, including in pediatrics where we still discredit breastfeeding on demand and co-sleeping in favor of timed “methods” that let babies cry to teach them to sleep (do we need to learn a physiological process?). This approach (distal mothering) encourages autonomy, whereas this objective can only be qualitatively achieved when primitive security has taken place. A proximal mothering, intensive and prolonged is not a new age fashion but an ancestral mechanism favoring attachment. However, we know today thatA disrupted primary attachment is at the origin of many forms of violence.
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The transnatal sensory continuum
The intrauterine sensory universe conditions neonatal sensory expectations. You just have to look at the first days of babies’ lives in the maternity ward to feel the environmental and sensory disruption in which they are welcomed. The industrialization of births moves away from the invitation to rediscover what the fetus experienced in its mother’s womb (heat, heartbeat, parents’ voices, permanent movements, continuous feeding, etc.). A smooth transition gives the baby better cues in this universe to develop serenely, physically and psychologically. Breastfeeding on demand, carrying (nine months in the womb, nine months in the arms) and/or proximal mothering promise better conditions. Moreover, in certain cultures, there is still only one word to designate breastfeeding, proximity and mothering.
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