Parent Workshops
We believe all new parents should feel supported and prepared to meet their baby at birth, which is why we believe in working with parents even before their baby arrives. Our workshops help parents to understand more about what their baby will be able to do from birth, how their baby will communicate with them and ways to support their very special relationship.
Scroll DownThe first days and weeks following a baby’s arrival can be an exciting but challenging transition for new parents, as suddenly they are responsible for a little person who is totally dependent on them.
One of the biggest challenges for new parents is learning what their baby is saying; so that they can respond in a sensitive way that needs their baby’s needs.
There are two ways the Brazelton Centre UK helps parents with this:
- Having the chance to observe and share the baby together with a health practitioner through an NBO or NBAS session. Learn more here.
- Learning about babies’ unique method of communication before birth in the antenatal period.
Antenatal Period
The time before birth is a brilliant opportunity before the busyness of having the baby around, to prepare ahead for the first days and weeks of getting to know the baby.
Parents have hopes and concerns about their baby and during the antenatal period they can start thinking about ways to communicate with their developing baby, before and after birth. They can be supported during this challenging transition to parenthood, by starting to establish a positive relationship straight away, even before birth.
Bump Start
The Brazelton Centre has developed a workshop called, ‘Bump Start Your Relationship with Your Baby’, which is designed to be a fun, informative session, where expectant parents have the chance to learn more about their baby.
Some of the topics covered include:
- Newborn baby states (from deep sleep to crying)
- Baby communication and behaviour
- Responding to your baby’s needs
- Soothing a crying baby
- Sleep and feeding
Our workshops always includes a visit from a parent and newborn baby, to give a demonstration of what babies can do at such a young age and show how they are already communicating.
We have been delighted to pilot a number of these workshops with young parents (the previous name of the workshops was ‘Thinking About Your Baby’) and have seen some fantastic results. In all the areas evaluated (through questionnaires), there was an increase in:
- Knowledge about baby communication
- Understanding baby behaviour and how to respond to it
- Knowledge about crying and consoling
- Parenting confidence
To see the more about this project and the evaluation click here.
Get in touch
This project is being developed to respond to parents’ needs and we soon aim to reach more families and support them in understanding their newborn babies.
If you are a parent and would be interested in helping us to develop these workshops, please feel free to contact us.
Organisations and groups running parent antenatal programmes interested in our workshop are also invited to get in touch to discuss ways in which we can work together.
01223 314429