"I am interested in observations of newborns, where can I learn more about newborns?" from Alenka Frangez

This was one of the questions I was asked after my talk about "birth to three Montessori" at the International Congress in Prague in July 2017 

Alenka works full time as a technical assistant in a Laboratory for cell physiology and toxinology at the Faculty of Medicine at the  University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. She also finds time to offer a Montessori Infant/Parent Class one afternoon a week for children from 10 to 30 months and aspires to do some scientific research comparing traditional and Montessori approaches to newborns and infants because she instinctively feels that we do not truly understand them or know how to handle them.

This was my question as well during my Montessori 0-3 training and in the years after. I found it to be practically impossible to observe newborns. I had satisfied the requirement for newborn observations (30 hours) helping a dear friend in the two weeks after her daughter's birth. 

I finally decided on a “career change” in order to get access to the youngest of the youngest. I began my journey with a three day theoretical training offered by DONA International to become a postpartum doula and launched myself into the world of offering assistance to new families. I wanted to be a Montessori Assistant to the newborn. After a trial period it was apparent that this was not the best way to study the newborn and I needed access to a larger "sample size".

So I came to Italy in 2016 and applied for an internship that would allow me to study and observe newborns and at the same time volunteer in a maternity ward at a public hospital. I have done 800 hours so far and I can finally say that I've been able to observe a few (hundred) newborns. I've had the opportunity to bathe them, dress them and help their moms with breastfeeding. I've been able to observe the nurses and doctors at work who care for them and examine them, and who order tests and prescribe medicines and therapies for them.

In the first days of life the newborn belongs to the hospital – not his mother. Blood is drawn, tests are done, for some - antibiotics are administered. Until the pediatrician releases the patient (the baby) he may not leave. He needs to show steady weight gain (in the first few days this is not easy as usually the milk has not come in and the colostrum offers only a small meal each time), normal C-reactive protein levels (a marker for inflammation and/or infection), normal levels of bilirubin (the substance that is produced during normal breakdown of red blood cells and is processed by the liver) and unquestionable heart and lung activity (EKG's and heart ultrasounds are not uncommon, lungs often have amniotic fluids that get suctioned out at least right after birth if not a second time in the first hours of life). As the birth rate drops the interventions per birth are on the increase.

Alenka, your question of how we can learn about the newborn is so very vital. The newborn is not yet considered a subject of education, to whom it is important to offer healthy psychological experiences. Until the medical world accepts the idea of psycho-somatic unity, they will only consider the physical aspects of health and life. We cannot discount how important medical care is for the beginning of life. Babies used to die of simple infections that led to phenomena, and other treatable situations. But they (doctors and nurses) also need to appreciate the realm of pre and perinatal psychology, which they typically do not. 

The spiritual embryo, which I prefer to call the psychological embryo, needs protection. Just as the uterus protected the physical fetus, the newborn requires a “uterus” that protects his psycho-social needs. Babies may not remember what happened to them in their first moments, hours, days and weeks of life, much less more than one or two memories from the first three years, but the “scars” are apparent. There is research on correlations between what happens to a baby during his birth and patterns in his life, and even on drugs used by the mother for labor and birth, and addiction.

To answer your question, Alenka, I can only say that if you want to get to know newborns as a Montessorian, it is a commitment. You will need to find a hospital that will accept you as a volunteer. You will need to commit to a year or more of volunteering and you will need to go once or twice a week. It will take months or more to develop relationships of trust with the personnel. Once they feel comfortable with you they may give you a chance to actually work with the babies. Only this will give you the first hand experience of knowing the newborn phase off life and what he or she needs from us.  

I have watched the nurses working with screaming babies: dressing and undress them, bathing them under running water, measuring their head circumference, stretching out their legs to get a length measurement, all in their first hours of life. These tiny people are so sensitive to new sensations and experiences. They often cry very hard through these procedures, and they are typically done at a very fast pace, in order to "finish" quickly and move on to the next "task." 

The nurses say "newborns cry, that is what newborns do to communicate" and I would like to ask them, "So if are they communicating, are you listening?" "Do you think crying means they feel fear?" "If you are gentle will they communicate unhappiness as well?"

I have recently been given the opportunity to try for myself to dress a 3 hour old newborn and see if I can do it without bringing him or her to tears. I am two for two! Each time the child only cried as I transported him to the changing table. In my course with Grazia Honegger Fresco in 2012 we saw videos from Emmi Pikler's orphanage where the "nurse caregivers" for the orphans talk to the babies and undress them very slowly before their bath. To take off the shirt, they gently roll the baby to one side and tell the baby what they are going to do. Then they gently roll her to the other side to remove the shirt. Nothing goes over the head, which most babies do not like. I did my best to replicate this gentle care and I am convinced that "newborns cry, that's just what they do" is a MYTH. 

Emmi Pikler (1902-1984)