Parent-Infant
All of us struggle, at times, with responsibilities in our lives, and adjusting to parenthood, the most difficult job of all, is the one there’s no training for. At times, as a parent, you may feel worried and distressed, struggling to understand what your baby is trying to let you know and may well re-experience what it is like to be helpless, needy, frustrated, even abandoned and worn out. At worst such troubling feelings may well leave you, as a parent, believing that ‘you are not a good mother or father’, which may add to your distress and anxiety. At such times discussing and talking with professionals, family members or friends can be both helpful and supportive.
Some of the issues which parents bring often include:
- Persistent feelings of stress and anxiety following a traumatic birth
- Feelings of low mood, anxiety or difficulties in adjusting to parenthood following the birth of baby
- Previous experience of multiple miscarriages or still birth.
Or when a parent is concerned that baby is:
- Is not eating or growing as expected
- Is experiencing sleep problems and you find yourself struggling with long wakeful nights
- Crying excessively or seeming to be too fussy or difficult to comfort
- Experiencing difficulties around separation
- Unusually quiet or seemingly being disinterested in what’s happening around him/her.
For obvious reasons of privacy and confidentiality it is not possible to describe exact stories of parents' lives, but do any of these sound familiar?
'My baby was born too early and I feel I let him down, he should have been safe and warm inside of me instead of outside in an incubator.'
'I wanted to be a better parent than mine and not make the same mistakes, now I feel I'm just repeating the same old cycle all over again.'
'I want to be a loving mother but when my baby screams at me and refuses to feed, I sometimes find myself hating her and feeling so guilty and inadequate.'
'I thought that second time round it should be easier, but I don't feel I've bonded in the same way, this baby isn't like the first, she's much more fussy and wont settle at night.'
What parent infant therapy can offer
The approach I offer in parent infant therapy is to create a space where:
- We can talk and think about both you as well as your baby’s needs, in a way that may help you both understand and tune-in to the varied ways your baby communicates as well as your own responses to them.
- We can help parenthood become an easier and more enjoyable experience and one in which both you and your baby thrives.
What happens in a consultation?
In general the work is brief. It is brief because the infant parent relationship is so new and thus difficulties are thought to be short-lived and more easily rectified once understood.
I would normally see you and your baby together for an initial consultation to learn about the family’s needs and decide with you as parents what would be most helpful for you and your baby. The meetings would be held in my consulting room and the number and spacing of the sessions may vary, they are usually weekly, but will depend upon the needs of the family.
Contacting me
If you would like more information or wish to make an appointment call: Jane Palmer on 020 8961 8076. Alternatively you may wish to use our web form to send us an email
Wrottesley Road, Willesden, London.
