Introduction

What is Prenatal Bonding Analysis and how does it work?

Prenatal Bonding Analysis (Bindungsanalyse) is a method through which a mother and her pre-born baby can learn to communicate with each other in the womb and they are therefore able to prepare together for their new lives with an already established deep connection.

It involves the mother reflecting on her own life experiences until and during pregnancy and during the process she also learns to communicate with her baby. This communication is unique to each mother-baby partnership and helps the mother to enjoy her pregnancy more, to prepare for birth and for mother and baby to also prepare for life outside of the womb.

The main aims of Prenatal Bonding Analysis are to:

- Promote a deep prenatal mother-baby bond,

- Mentally strengthen the mother,

- To support her maturing process during pregnancy,
- To satisfy the pre-born baby's need to be loved and accepted, for them to feel security and protection and above all for the mother and baby to be securely attached.

"A secure person has a deep-rooted self-confidence. They know that everything will work out. They know this with the wonderful certainty of someone who has been told . . . again and again, that they are wanted and loved" Thomas Verny

How do the sessions work?

The very first trial session involves starting to fill out a questionnaire, where we discuss the current pregnancy and the mother's significant life events, as these events can have conscious or subconscious ways of surfacing during bonding sessions and are relevant for me to be aware of.

Then we begin doing the 'baby sessions' which usually last 50 minutes to an hour. We initially discuss how the mother has been since the previous session, anything of note from her questionnaire and discuss if there is anything in particular that the mother would like to communicate to the baby that week. For the rest of the session, the mother is guided to relax into a calm state and that's when communication with the baby happens.

Coaching helps with this, especially if meditative practice is new to the mother! At the end of a session the mother and baby bid farewell to each other from this intense connection, until the next time. It is not a sad farewell for either the mother or the baby, as they are always connected, it is just a helpful way for both of them to know the session is finished.

Please contact me if you would like to make a booking for your first session.

Where does the method come from?

In the past few decades there has been a lot of research into the experiences that babies have in the womb (prenatal psychology) and how this might impact them for the rest of their lives.

Prenatal Bonding Analysis (Bindungsanalyse) is a method that was developed by two Hungarian psychologists in the 1980s, Dr Raffai and Dr Hidas. A direct translation of their name for the process is that it provides "an umbilical cord of the soul" between the mother and the baby.

Dr Raffai then spread the method to Germany (as he spoke both Hungarian and German). In Germany, the process is called Bindungsanalyse, hence in English it is now referred to as Prenatal Bonding Analysis (Prenatal Bonding (BA)) as it is a specific way of bonding with the baby in-utero.

It has taken quite a while for translations to become available but finally training courses to become a Prenatal Bonding Coach have started being offered more widely in English, too [see https://www.academy-to-promote-prenatal-attachment.com/ for more info].

How is it different to other pregnancy courses?

There are other popular courses for parents-to-be, such as e.g. Hypnobirthing or Birth Preparation; however, these focus more on the mother as the key to birth and a birthing partner to help them. So, mostly these courses concentrate on the birth itself and the immediate practical care for the baby afterwards (which is of course, important!).

However, Prenatal Bonding Analysis works to create a relationship and make a team of the mother and the baby so they can get to know each other pre-birth and so that they can grow their relationship in the pregnancy and also prepare for the birth and for life outside of the womb together.