Special Needs: Premature Or Disabled Babies

When a woman goes through motherhood, she not only learns who her baby is, but also what she has become through her new identity. So, if everything goes well, the mother may not feel very strange in this new world. However, what happens when our children are premature babies or have some kind of disability? In this case, the obstacles that must be faced can become impactful.

In other words, by itself this process is not simple for any woman, misunderstanding and lack of knowledge generate even more confusion and disorientation.

The Importance of Imagination for the New Mother

When we become mothers, we spend hours and hours between fantasies of how our children will be, what changes will happen in our life, what our family will be like, etc. In this way the mind of the future mother will configure each step step by step, deceiving itself , taking advantage of and even fearing new scenarios.

However, even when there are objective data on the baby’s physical problem during pregnancy, the mother cannot have any idea what this will mean for her and for her world. This requires a great deal of psychological work.

The mother must assimilate that not only has she lost this ideal image of her child, but that she will also not be able to predict what her future will be like. In this way, time virtually holds the mother’s psychological world while reality revolves precipitously.

The mother begins to ask herself if everything she had imagined could be fulfilled, what future to expect and what kinds of desires to aspire. We can say that she is orphaned by a great deal of her imaginative process, not knowing how to react and, in part, settling for uncertainty.

Learning More About Premature Babies and Other Disabilities

Since each child has their own story, discovering the nature and consequences of the illness or problem is very helpful. The discovery process usually starts with medical information.

This is not always clear, and even if it is not, the ambiguity and confusion of the moment fill the mother with loneliness and countless unanswered questions.

This part is what leads to unbearable anguish in parents, so it is normal that in these moments a wave of feelings of anxiety, sadness and guilt flood all their senses.

The times of uncertainty and anguish will be present in the life of a family that little bit to adapt to a new condition did not expect and that no one and nothing can explain.

Thus, in relation to premature children as well as those with special needs due to physical or intellectual disabilities, parents will walk alongside their children, always watching and trying to ensure progress that keeps them safe.

Premature or disabled babies: how mothers react

Usually the mother of a baby who is born with some kind of physical problem asks herself how to overcome the obstacles, whether or not she is competent as a mother, whether or not she can identify with the baby and how she will reinvent the relationship.

Thus, the search for her motherhood, the psychological birth of this mother will be hurt, as she will feel strongly incapable of facing her child’s upbringing blinded by the pain and guilt she feels in relation to what may happen to her child. While the parents are clearly not to blame, this step is necessary to overcome the duel and manage the present moment.

In these cases, it is recommended to seek help from support groups that are or have found themselves in the same situation, because psychological advice in the beginning can help to overcome the crisis and increasingly define the situation that helps us in raising our children. !

Bibliographic source consulted: The birth of a mother by Daniel Stern and collaborators