What is PERINATAL MENTAL HEALTH? Perinatal Mental Health is just a formal way to say, “mommas and babies have a lot going on psychologically.” Babies are real people with real feelings and real reactions to feelings as early as in utero. Any form of stress or intensely heavy emotion experienced by a mother can have negative effects on various aspects of fetal development and can cause harm to both the mother and child. When a mother is under stress, physiological changes occur in the body that could harm the developing fetus. MOTHERS’ and INFANTS’ MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS.
Beyond struggles in fetal development, PERINATAL STRESS can negatively impact the dyad’s birth experience. Both the mother’s perspective of her labor and delivery and the factual medical experience can be negatively affected by a mother’s psychology. The trickle of affects continue to attachment and bonding issues postpartum and can even influence feeding, soothing, sleeping, and level of infant fussiness.
Mommas, processing your BIRTH STORY can improve your parenting journey. If you are experiencing a stressful pregnancy, you deserve to BE HEARD. You child deserves to BE HEARD through his or her relationship with you. If you feel disconnected from your child postpartum, you and your child deserve to BE HEARD. Your relationship with your child matters. NO VOICE IS TOO SMALL.