“Birth no more constitutes the beginning of the life of the individual than it does the end of gestation. Birth represents a complex and highly important series of functional changes which serve to prepare the newborn for the passage across the bridge between gestation within the womb and gestation continued out of the womb.” (Montagu, 1986, 57)
Welcome to The Fourth Trimester
Keep Me Close
Imagine being yanked out of your warm and cosy bed on a cold morning, without notice or explanation.
This must be how we all feel in that extraordinary moment we call birth. Confused, overwhelmed and shocked.
Keeping babies close in these early days helps them acclimatise to this strange world of sensory overload. Newborns seek contact and avoid isolation. Your baby cannot explain that the nursery you prepared with such love is an alien space. They cannot tell you that lying on their back in a bassinet is sending panic signals to their brain.