Who we are
The Brazelton Centre UK is a national charity dedicated to supporting healthy parent-baby relationships though promoting an understanding of newborn babies’ communication.
Scroll DownOur Vision
A world where newborn babies are listened to and understood by their families, enabling strong relationships and healthy lives
Our Mission
To give newborn babies a voice by supporting parents in understanding their unique communication
Values
Respectful, Compassionate, Knowledgeable, Supportive, Approachable
Our activities are founded upon the pioneering work of Dr T. Berry Brazelton, MD, Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics at Harvard Medical School, who was one of the most influential scientists, clinicians, and advocates in paediatrics and child development of the twentieth century. He focused on the social, interactive capabilities of the baby, and their unique characteristics.
Discover more about Dr Brazelton and our History.
We are part of a network of training centres across the world making a difference to the lives of families through teaching the NBAS and NBO. Other countries with training centres include Australia, Norway, and our parent centre, the Brazelton Institute in Boston, USA. These training centres form a global community of clinicians and researchers, who work with babies and their families to promote baby behaviour and to strengthen families and communities.
To learn more about the network and news from other countries, visit: Newborn Behavior International
Our Activities
Education
We deliver training courses and certification to health practitioners across the UK and in other countries in two recognised tools for understanding newborn behaviour; the Newborn Behavioural Observations system (NBO) and the Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS). To date we have trained thousands of practitioners, including Health Visitors, Neonatal Nurses, Family Support Workers, Psychologists, Occupational Therapists and many others who work with babies from birth to three months old.
Why do we do this?
We want to empower practitioners with more knowledge, skills and confidence as they support families with newborn babies. Our goal is to ensure that supporting early relationships by practitioners becomes embedded into their practice and is an essential part of care pathways in healthcare services.
Support
We support parents through the provision of information and workshops, which centre on how parents can interact with their newborn baby and how they can understand their baby’s language. Our workshops, which are currently in development, are focused in the antenatal period so that new parents are ready to read their baby’s behaviour right from birth. We will also develop postnatal workshops to support parents in the early days of their baby’s arrival.
Why do we do this?
We aim to enhance parent-baby interaction and responsive, sensitive parenting, which research shows is vital for babies’ growth and development later in life. In research studies, parents report feeling more confident in reading their baby’s cues after an NBAS/NBO, which can promote positive mental well-being for all the family. Some research studies have also shown a reduction in postnatal depressive symptoms if the NBO is done twice in the first few weeks of birth.
Inform
We are committed to promoting and carrying out evaluations to ensure our services remain highly effective. We also strive to increase knowledge through our research into the field of newborn behaviour and parent-baby relationships. Through our work we collaborate with fellow organisations and bodies in the field to increase expertise and awareness of newborn baby communication and behaviour.
Why do we do this?
It is vital that we ensure our services remain effective and that the information offered to professionals and parents remains reliable and trustworthy. We also want baby communication and its importance to have a higher public profile, leading to improved mental health and wellbeing for all UK families.
Influence
Through our marketing and communications activities, we work to raise awareness of newborn behaviour and to promote how essential positive early interaction is for babies as they grow and develop. Our work in this area includes publicity campaigns to parents as well as practitioners through social media, our website and video content, information materials, teaching and events.
Why do we do this?
We want to influence others so that greater numbers of babies are listened to and understood. We aim to influence both the wider society and those in policy and decision-making roles so that they will appreciate the importance of supporting and investing in early relationships.
If you want to learn more about the social impact we make through our activities, click here.
