For Infants and Parents
Parenthood May Surprise You
New babies disrupt every family and exhaust every parent. Sometimes, their babies’ neediness exceeds the parents’ patience. Then parents worry they don’t love their new child. Or, they worry about their baby’s:
Temperament
Colic
Sleep
Feeding or weight gain
Attachment
Psychological reactions to illness or physical disability
When parents realize that their fears and frustrations are damaging the new relationship, they bring their baby for consultation.
Learning More About Your Baby and Yourself as a Parent
Infant-parent psychotherapy helps parents make an authentic relationship with their real baby. The gift of parental self-reflection makes the baby feel understood and prized, and helps the family thrive.
During consultations, or infant-parent psychotherapy, parents learn about their baby and themselves. Together, we observe the baby’s transitions between states of sleep, drowsiness, alertness, excitement and distress. We watch the baby’s reactions to sights, sounds, touch, and inner tensions. We assess the baby’s needs and tolerance for stimulation, and strategies for coping with the overflow. This new knowledge will help the parents connect with their baby.
In our meetings, parents come to terms with their feelings toward their baby, especially when the baby is not what they had expected. They explore their hopes, dreams, and fears for their baby, and discover that these reveal themselves. For example, fear of a defiant child may reflect a parent’s rebellious past, sibling, or impulses.
Familiarity with their own baggage helps parents make a more authentic relationship with their real baby. As obscure feelings--both the baby’s and parents’—come into focus, the family relaxes. Understanding of both themselves and their baby deepens. The gift of parental self-reflection makes the baby feel understood and prized, and helps the family thrive.