I gladly receive and publish the contribution of Eleonora Piras, perinatal educator, who collaborates with CiaoLapo for the promotion of the well-being and health of mothers and children, on an exercise that we can all do to help operators and parents to understand fetal movements more closely .
Numerous campaigns have been conducted in recent years in many countries: we talked here about the beautiful work of Tommy’s, also taken up by the journalist Valentina Murelli on OggiScienza .
CiaoLapo’s work on the movements of the baby in utero began in 2008: since then we have been working on a specific flyer to reach women.
In recent years similar flyers have also been proposed and adopted by the English NHS and the International Stillbirth Alliance , in multiple languages, to reach as many people as possible.
Reading a flyer is not always enough to promote knowledge of a topic.
Sometimes, to learn a new concept, especially when the new concept replaces an old concept considered valid for generations, it is also necessary to work with practical exercises and simple reflections.
Eleonora offers us an interesting exercise, which I thought was important to share with all those who read us.
Enjoy the reading!
“Babies at the end of pregnancy move less because they have less space”.
It is a refrain that we have probably all heard, from our neighbor, on a TV program but (unfortunately) also from health workers.
When I happen to hear this concept, rather than giving a sermon on the danger of a statement as superficial as it is false, I put into practice a small role-playing game that displaces, amuses and makes an important concept pass clear and strong.
There is only one rule in this game: do not ridicule the participants! you laugh “with” .. you don’t laugh “at” …
Good….
Do we all get up?
Yes? A thousand thanks 🙂
Now do we take each other by the hand?
A nice soft round dance.
MARIOGIOVANNIPASQUALE (you said that babies move less – they feel less at the end of pregnancy) could you put yourself in the center of the circle? Thanks.
So … let’s do as if our circle were the uterus and MarioGiovanniPasquale our baby in the womb.
At the beginning of pregnancy the uterus has this dimension here (I point to our circle), compared to the baby … which is small! so MARIOGIOVANNIPASQUALE since you cannot shrink .. we will expand.
The baby does a lot of things in the womb … it’s not immobile! children stretch, stretch, spread arms and legs, experiment with kicks and elbows, more or less delicate!
Maybe MarioGiovanniPasquale you can try some of these movements while we (without laughing!) Welcome you, contain without forcing … just like the womb?
The proportion between uterus and baby in terms of space is evident to all present, right?
The baby grows and so does the uterus, in our game since the “baby” cannot simulate his growth, we mean that it is the circle that approaches him.
At the end of pregnancy, how is the space for MarioGiovanniPasquale? what are the differences between before and now?
Here … if now we as a circle are neighbors close close to Mario Giovanni Pasquale what can we hear? More or less? harder? slower?
And does he move more or less in relation to the space he has?
Let’s dissolve the circle and thank MarioGiovanniPasquale for lending himself to the game:
He moves with the “style” that only that child knows how to have, with the habits that his mother has learned to know.
Babies do not slow down / decrease movements at the end of pregnancy and usually do not sleep for more than 90 minutes at a time. If a mom notices anything other than this, it’s a good idea to go to a doctor or midwife for an evaluation right away, without delay.
This is a fun game, in my little experience I have seen that it works more than didactic handouts in dispelling the false myth of little space equals little movement
It is a game that gives you delicious pearls in collecting all the answers that come out:
“And now, that we are closer to MarioGiovanniPasquale, what can we hear?”
Once they told me …
The stench of the feet!
But weren’t all the stinks of children holy? 😛
Eleonora Piras
Perinatal Educator
President Alma Mater aps
for further information: https://www.ciaolapo.it/articoli/item/414-guardami-sentimi
