Did you know that the relationship between the mother and her baby starts from the prenatal period? That’s right! With the confirmation of pregnancy , this relationship has already begun to be established, based initially on the mother’s expectations about the child. In addition to the child’s physical growth, the idea of being a mother and the construction of an image of the baby take place in the woman’s internal world.
Gradually, the mother creates a face for the baby, giving it physical and personality characteristics, and as the fetus grows in the mother’s womb, she begins to create fantasies about the child she is generating, through work psychic construction of the baby called the imagined baby . Movements, images and ultrasounds allow new constructions that start as soon as the woman perceives herself pregnant, giving shape to the new person that will appear in her body, originating the imagined baby.
When the baby is born …
Studies in this area of psychology show that, at birth, the real baby does not fully correspond to the baby imagined by the mother. For this reason, she needs to reorganize herself emotionally, to be able to identify the needs and desires of the baby who is there. It is from there that she will be ready to meet the real son, which means paying attention to her own characteristics.
Do not worry!
There is nothing wrong with this initial estrangement. As the days go by, with the interaction between the woman and the child, the differences are overcome by the care that the mother offers the baby. With each bath , diaper change, breastfeeding or, simply, when she takes her child on her lap , the mother recognizes her baby, better understanding her needs and feeling more and more confident in the maternal role.
It only takes time, dedication, patience and a lot of love along this journey!
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