thanks, Jan, I didn't know the term haptonomic...exactly what does it mean? Never occurred to me women wouldn't do that...surely they do? ...don't they...er...
aviva
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Whatever happened to the old haptonomic approach to getting to know the
baby?
Don't mothers stroke, caress, talk, and play with their babies in utero
anymore? Usually this is spontaneous behaviour but some mothers need to be
taught the value of a daily quiet time with baby, especially those mothers
who come home tired from working each evening.
The haptonomic approach is surely much more fun (and dad can join in too)
than watching the poor little mite turn it's ears away from the intruding
ultrasound wave ... When you see the baby waving it's arms around it's
trying to block it's ears!
Why have we become a society that is willing to subject it's unborn to
distressing tests without a clinical indicator?
Jan
Dear Aviva
I knew someone would ask this question when I didn’t have the old notes on hand.
I was discussing the way mothers touch their babies years ago with a Dutch midwife who told me that they had a Haptonomic Society in Europe that encouraged parents to “get in touch” with their babies in a meaningful way during pregnancy. All sorts of haptonomic programs were available in Holland that established routine communication sessions between mother/father and unborn baby she said.
Since she told me about haptonomy I have always asked my clients how their babies are responding to their touch signals each visit. It is quiet interesting to hear the replies.
One woman told me that her baby always responded with an elbow movement for more attention when she stopped stroking it’s back. She also told me that the baby did it in exactly the same way as her husband did when she stopped stroking his back in bed at night. Her husband would give her a backwards dig with his elbow, indicating that he wanted more of the same stroking and she was sure that her baby was doing it exactly the same way.
I think there is a huge necesssity for midwives to initiate stroking and caresssing sessions with unborn babies with parents who are not the “touchy/feely” types .. Also for those who may have been abused or neglected or not exprerienced loving touch themselves. Seeing their smiles when the baby responds is worthwhile.
I’ve never gotten around to finding out if there is a Haptonomic Society in Australia as I always just seem to incorparate a little haptonomy into my routine prenatal care and work with the parents as the need arises.
Cheers
Jan
PS
Just looked up my dictionary and it doesn’t say too much. It does say that a haptometer is an instrument for measuring sensitivity to touch. Anyone else got information on this subject?
Jan
