JOURNAL - International Childbirth Education Association

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Featured Staff Member Dale King, Statistics Columnist for the International Journal of Childbirth Education, received his doctorate in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany in 1995. His dissertation was concerned with the impact of socioeconomic, organizational, and professional liability factors on the odds of cesarean delivery. Part of his research was published in the August 1994 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at an international conference on health policy and management. The central thesis of his work was that women have begun to educate themselves so that they may have their desired birth experience rather than let their physician make all the necessary decisions. For example, better educated women were at the forefront of the increase in the vaginal birth after cesarean rate that occurred in the late nineteen eighties. Dale’s Statistics Column has appeared in the International Journal of Childbirth Education for the past two years. He is currently employed as an analyst for the New York State Department of Health. The International Journal of Childbirth Education welcomes your articles and photos (authors and photographers must submit a signed copy of the submission statement included in Information for Journal Writers) for the next four issues. They can be sent to Managing Editor Helen Young, 1936 Garfield Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 0W8 CANADA; e-mail address: ag139@freenet.carleton.ca. June 1999: “Infant Feeding” February 1, 1999 Deadline September 1999: “Your Practice” May 1, 1999 Deadline December 1999: “Turn of the Century” August 1, 1999 Deadline March 2000: “Open Focus” October 1, 1999 Deadline Writers are also encouraged to submit articles for Journal’s Focal Points, as they relate to each particular issue focus. Focal Point on Breastfeeding Focal Point on Childbirth Education Focal Point on Labor Support Focal Point on Postnatal Education 4 • IJCE Vol. 13 No. 4
Reciprocal Interactions as the Foundation for Parent-Infant Attachment At a recent gathering of new parents, a mother admiring her four-week-old baby said, “I talk to her all of the time, but sometimes I feel like I must be crazy because, you Where did the baby fit into this statement? This was obviously a loving parent. The emergence of the social smile in her baby would certainly awaken this mother to the reciprocal nature of interactions that were already going on. Still, her comment represents pervasive, cultural messages that we are not fully human — not really there — until we can speak for ourselves. Central to any healthy relationship is the belief that we will be heard. What can educators and health care professionals do to support an awareness of reciprocity from the beginning of this most central of human relationships? Sensory development in the prenatal period allows the baby to engage the environment socially at birth —and before. The tactile sense is the first to develop prenatally and the most refined sense at birth. Auditory development is completed during the prenatal period. Once any remaining amniotic fluid is absorbed, the newborn’s hearing is as good as an older child’s. Auditory ability gives us the A by Linda Todd clearest picture of prenatal learning. Newborn babies show a marked preference for voices heard during the prenatal period. DeCasper and Spence (1986) demonstrated that babies recognize a story read to them twice a day in the last six weeks of pregnancy when compared to an unfamiliar story that was heard for the first time after birth. Furthermore, the unborn baby often habituates to sounds that might be considered disturbing, for example, barking of a family dog or airplanes flying overhead, showing a remarkable ability to filter these sounds out after birth. At birth, the newborn’s sense of taste is acute. Babies show a preference for sweet over sour tastes (Lipsitt 1977). Rosenstein and Oster (1988) demonstrated that when exposed to the taste of various substances, newborns made facial expressions very much like adults exposed to the same tastes, providing evidence that such facial expressions are innate. Like the sense of taste, the sense of smell is well developed at birth. In a time frame of thirty to ninety minutes after birth, newborns exposed to the odor of amniotic fluid cry significantly less than controls or even those exposed to breastmilk (Varendi et al. 1998). In the first days after birth, newborns distinguish between the natural odor of the maternal breast and a breast that has been washed, showing a preference for the natural odor breast (Varendi, Porter, and Winberg 1997). The least well-developed sense of the baby at birth is vision. Newborns are remarkably nearsighted, creating something of a visual cocoon for the first several weeks. During that time, the human face captures attention. Stern (1977) has speculated that in this world of limited vision, the infant learns to read the nonverbal messages of the human face in ways that might not otherwise occur. Nearly as impressive as sensory development is motor development in the prenatal period. By twenty weeks of pregnancy, the unborn baby is capable of all the movements that will be seen after birth (Comparetti 1981). The early development of the vestibular system of the middle ear, around four months, allows the unborn baby to sense changes in maternal posture as he floats in the amniotic fluid (Patten 1968). Women frequently comment on increased fetal move- continued on page 6 Dan Hammond IJCE Vol. 13 No. 4 • 5
Page 1 and 2: I N T E R N A T I O N A L JOURNAL O
Page 3: Across the President’s Desk by Ch
Page 7 and 8: RECIPROCAL INTERACTIONS AS FOUNDATI
Page 9 and 10: ICEA ALTERNATE CONTACT HOURS PROGRA
Page 11 and 12: It Takes a Village to Raise a Child
Page 13 and 14: RESOURCES by Rebecca Ward This Reso
Page 15 and 16: RESOURCES from page 14 MARCH OF DIM
Page 17 and 18: INFORMATION UP- by Mary Anne Ernzen
Page 19 and 20: PARENTING: EXAMINING THE FATHER fro
Page 21 and 22: CERTIFICATION UPDATE from page 20 C
Page 23 and 24: THE INTERNET: PARENTING 101 from pa
Page 25 and 26: F G A relaxation break at the Doula
Page 27 and 28: ATTACHMENT AND BONDING: THE DOULA
Page 29 and 30: QUESTIONS TO ANSWER WHEN TEACHING B
Page 31 and 32: POLITICAL ISSUES: PARENTING AND THE
Page 33 and 34: EDUCATOR’S COR- by Kathy Swift Ch
Page 35 and 36: A Sample from Postnatal Curriculum
Page 37 and 38: For Your Information ICEA member, C
Page 39 and 40: Suggestions for a Doula’s Birth B
Page 41 and 42: Newly Certified ICCEs Cheryl Andres
Page 43 and 44: Information for Journal Writers The
Page 45 and 46: CALENDAR OF EVENTS * January 8-9. P
Page 47 and 48: EMPATHY BELLY AD IJCE Vol. 13 No. 4

JOURNAL - International Childbirth Education Association

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