Baby First Impressions Matter
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Baby First Impressions Matter

We tend to think that babies are not very aware of their surroundings; however, baby first impressions matter a lot.

“My new born baby seems agitated. He startles easily and doesn’t seem to be able to relax”.

I hear that a lot.

I also hear versions of this story from many new borns I meet. They tell me with their eyes, they show me with their bodies, they whisper to me their stories. Here is a poem that embodies baby first impressions.

I was curled up into a tight ball for as long as I can remember.
My spine and neck compressed in my constantly shrinking apartment.

I knew my time in that world was limited.
I hadn’t seen it but I believed it, felt it
There is life beyond this water world.

And then I was ready
The time had come to begin the journey.
I problem solved for many hours
Turning my head this way and that
Kicking off the wall like a champion swimmer.
Knowing the way out must be within my reach. 

I heard Her calling to me
Her moans
The vibrations deep and all embracing.

And those gentle hugs
From my uterine walls.

And then there She was
Smiling at me.
Her smell so familiar
Our smell.
There are tears in Her eyes
She is more wildly magnificent then I could have imagined. 

And I open my mouth to reassure Her
To let her know it is ok.
I have found her
I will never leave her.

But then there are other hands
Someone else is touching me roughly
Taking me from Her.
From my world.

And then the pain
The shearing
Mind bending pain
Piercing through my spine
My head.
I am hanging
Suspended
Every bones is in shock.
Forced to uncurl
So much pressure in my head.

My nervous system jumps into action.
I scream
I kick
I fight the predator with a vengeance 
Wildly thrashing.

But I am tired
And It is hard to be coordinated through the blinding pain
And this predator is big
Strong.

This must be the end
Is this all there is?

And then it is over
And I am back in the arms of the Mother
But everything has changed
I cannot relax

I am dizzy from the pain searing through my spine.

I decided I will need to stay on guard
For the next attack 

This place is not safe.

(Image: Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

We now know so much about the consciousness of the new born.
We know about the senses already developed in the womb.
We know they have the ability to feel pain.
We know they are not ‘blobs’
We still treat them with such disrespect. How shameful.

 

To further this discussion, here is a wonderful article highlighting the importance of the first three months for a newborn.

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Comments
  • I have a day-of-my-birth story. I became a doctor. One focus of my work was the early relationships of mother and child, in pregnancy, childbirth, and the newborn period. I once participated in a meditation and hypnosis seminar where we were supposed to regress back to our lives before we were born. But I could only get back as far as my birth. The delivery room was cold and gray. I saw myself being born; I looked around and there was my mother, frightened, lying on the table. Then the doctors were holding me upside down, dangling me by my feet as was the custom. I was screaming and screaming at the top of my lungs, “You are doing it wrong! You are doing it wrong!” No one was listening to me.

    • Hi Michelle thanks for sharing your story! Its incredible what all we store without knowing isn’t it? Hope you had lots of love around you when you came up from re-living that experience. Thanks for the beautiful work you do in India

  • This is beautifully written.