ABSTRACT
This book is a collection of papers by clinicians united in their conviction about the importance of directly engaging and interacting with the baby in the presence of the parents whenever possible. This approach, which draws on the work of Winnicott, Trevarthen and Stern, honours the baby as subject. It re-presents the baby to the parents who may in that way see a new child, in turn shaping the infant's implicit memories and reflective thinking. Recent neurobiological, attachment and developmental psychology models inform the work. The book describes the underpinning theoretical principles and the settings and forms of direct clinical practice, ranging from work with acutely ill babies, to more everyday interventions in crying, feeding and sleeping difficulties, as well as infant-parent psychotherapy. Clinicians at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne from the disciplines of psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychology, nursing, speech pathology, child psychotherapy, paediatrics, and music therapy describe their work with ill and suffering babies and their families.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|80 pages
Interventions in Acute Health Settings
chapter Seven|8 pages
Working in twilight: infant mental health interventions with babies who may die
part II|32 pages
Interventions in Crying, Feeding, and Settling Difficulties
part III|53 pages
Infant–Parent Therapy
chapter Fourteen|8 pages
Play dough, pooh, and general practice: communications of a two-year-old child
chapter Sixteen|19 pages
Babies in groups: the creative roles of the babies, the mothers, and the therapists
part IV|47 pages
Interventions with Infants with Problems of Relating
part V|28 pages
Interventions with Infants Exposed to Family Violence
chapter Twenty-Three|12 pages
Sara: psychotherapy with a mother–infant dyad with a background of violence
part VI|30 pages
Reference Papers