This weekend we gave a presentation on grandparenting at the Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) conference in San Francisco.  There is a lot of interest in Planet Grandparent and the potential for grandparents to enhance the positive roles that they play in their families.

The main theme of the conference was “Echoes from the Womb”. It focused on the importance of babies’ experiences in the womb, at birth, and in the first year of life.  Speakers like Bruce Lipton, Annie Murphy Paul, Raylene Phillips, Gabor Maté, and Marcy Axness discussed some key concepts that many people aren’t familiar with:

•  Healthy development in the period before birth has a huge impact on the lifelong health and resilience of every person.  That development depends on the chemistry of the womb environment and that hormones released by a stressed-out mother can  impair the baby’s development with lasting effects.
• One-third to one-half of all mothers and babies today experience trauma at birth, often as a result of unnecessary medical interventions, like induced births and caesarean sections.
• Infants need to form close attachment with their mothers right away after birth.  The keys to this attachment are skin-to-skin touch, eye contact, holding and soothing voices.  Throughout the first year of life, babies continue to need secure attachments with their parents and other adults.  Secure attachment tells the baby that he is loved and welcomed in the world.  Interruptions in the attachment process strongly affect the development of a baby’s brain and are leading causes of mental illness and addictions in adult life.

This scientific knowledge was not available when our children were babies, 25 or 30 years ago, so many grandparents may not be aware of it.

What does all this mean to us as grandparents?  It points to important ways that we can help our grandchildren.  Grandparents:

• Help to reduce the mother’s stress, both during pregnancy and after the baby is born.
• Be available to talk with our children about birth choices, listen to their concerns, and help them find options that will be best for them.
• Spend time with our grandbabies, holding them, talking to and soothing them to build secure attachment.  Every moment that a baby receives undivided attention and love is an investment in their future health and happiness.