[Applause]
what did you do last Mother’s Day some
people like to give their mums flowers
and chocolates others like to write a
meaningful card of encouragement to say
thank you to their mums my mum likes to
go out for lunch to spend time with
family
whichever way you spend Mother’s Day
today I want you to take a moment to
reflect on the significance of this
occasion why do we celebrate Mother’s
Day as you ponder this question some
reasons that may spring to mind
include how your mum tirelessly supports
you how she listens to you through thick
and thin or maybe how she cooked amazing
food and today I want to add another
reason to your list about why Mother’s
are just so pivotal to our lives and
this may be a reason that you may have
never considered before so to do this I
want to tell you about my research so
let’s start with a pop quiz behind me
you’re going to see some pictures and I
want you to raise your hand as to which
one you think is the correct answer the
question is when do you think the bond
between a mother and her child begins is
it a when a baby first begins to speak
and says its first words such as Mumma
or is it B when a baby is first born in
those first few moments after birth as a
mother cradles her newborn in her arms
as she lovingly looks down her love
swells up inside of her or finally is it
C during pregnancy before birth a mother
begins to connect with her child who
thinks it is a put your hand up who
thinks it’s B
and who thinks at sea great work exactly
right the bond between a mother and her
child
begins well before a mother even lays
eyes on her child and this develops in
those nine months of pregnancy and this
is what researchers like to call
prenatal attachment over the course of
pregnancy a mother begins to imagine
what her baby will be like when a child
will look like she has hopes dreams and
expectations for her child she may start
preparing the nursery throw a baby
shower start talking to her unborn child
she may even start feeling excited and
happy as well as maybe quitting smoking
and starting eating healthfully all of
these emotions these thoughts and all of
these behaviors represent this bond that
develops during pregnancy it’s a little
bit like when you prepare for a holiday
I recently went to Europe and I remember
all of the preparation that was involved
before the trip with booking flights
hotels figuring out where I wanted to go
and getting ready for all of the new
adventures in the same way mothers
prepare practically emotionally as well
as physically for the newest addition to
their family and so my research tried to
look at how prenatal attachment can then
have a bearing on that their baby later
on in life to see what the flow-on
effects were and so for my research we
tracked women all the way from the early
stages of pregnancy right up until birth
and when the babies were about 6 to 12
months old we recruited mothers from the
motto mothers Hospital in Brisbane which
is the largest paternity hospital in
Queensland here we ask mothers to tell
us about how they felt and how they
behaved and thought towards their unborn
child and we tried to see
if this was linked to how an infant is
able to process their sensory
information around them every day we are
processing and encountering a myriad of
sensory information from what we hear
touch see taste and feel but not only
that but also our internal body sense
one of those is called proprioception so
to demonstrate this sense that we have
we’re going to do an activity can
everyone please put their index finger
in the air now I want you to put it in
front of you I want you to close your
eyes now and slowly bring your index
finger to touch your nose now open your
eyes once you’ve done that okay put your
hands down who is able to touch their
nose put your hands up great so why is
it that we can do this even though we
have closed our eyes and this is because
we have receptors in our joints in our
bones that tell us where our body is in
space and where our body parts are in
relation to each other and so every day
we are processing all of this sensory
information around us infants for
example when they’re playing they might
have to process the visual information
of all the colors and all the objects of
their toys or perhaps maybe the textures
that they’re feeling of the Feltz in the
cubes as well as maybe the plastics of
the toys or take for example not be
changing the baby may be feeling the
mother adjust the nappy on them or maybe
even be smelling some things if it’s
full also when you look at feeding we
can see that babies are processing the
taste of the pureed food for example
whether it’s bitter sour or sweet and
may be hearing some things such as the
mum and dad talking to each other or
maybe the mum saying open
mmm so you can see here that babies are
always processing a range of sensory
information what we know from research
and what we know when we talk to
families is that some families have
children who enjoy sensory information
who are not phased not fast who a calm
cool and collected when faced with a
range of varied differing and
unpredictable sensory information in
contrast we find that some children are
more distractible more startles
irritated and even overwhelmed when
faced with this unpredictable sensory
stimuli and so my research tried to see
whether or not before birth the bond
between a mother and a child could have
a bearing on this and so what we did we
looked at how mothers responded to their
child before pregnancy and we tried to
see if it had a link with an infant’s
ability to process sensory information
at about six to twelve months after
birth we asked mothers to tell us how
their child responded to a range of
sensory stimuli such as loud noises or
maybe bright lights and we asked the
mums to tell us how irritable startled
or may be calm or soothed they were by
this sensory information our results
showed that mothers who had a stronger
more affectionate more loving bond with
their unborn child before birth were
more likely to have children who are
adaptable who are calm and soothed and
also happy when they experienced a range
of sensory stimuli in contrast mothers
who struggled or had a snake ative bond
with their unborn child or more likely
to have children who were more irritated
and distracted by all of this sensory
information and we know that sensory
processing skills are vital because it
lays the foundation to learn
out of other skills such as being able
to master the skill of talking
understanding language using your hands
to pick up objects and write as well as
using your bodies to learn to learn
skills such as how to walk crawl and
jump and so what we know from my
research is that we can give kids a head
start to life even before they’re born
by supporting mothers to develop a
strong warm and loving connection with
their baby before they’re born
we can unleash the potential of the next
generation through assisting mothers to
develop this warm bond and so today I
want to give you three tips so that you
can walk away so you can support either
yourself to develop a strong bond either
now or later in life or if you’re a dad
Ram Carin uncle aunty then you can maybe
support your relative as they’re going
through pregnancy if you’re not in that
life stage hopefully you can tuck away
these strategies for later and so the
first one I want to give you today is to
write in a pregnancy journal writing in
a pregnancy journal is a great way for
you to reflect on your feelings thoughts
as well as some of your expectations for
one for when the baby is born a lot of
how we parent our children is from the
way that we were parented so being aware
of all of those experiences in the past
and how this contributes to who you are
today is a really great way for you to
be able to be mindful of your parenting
this is also a really good way if you
wanted to put ultrasound images of your
baby so that you can start thinking of
your child not just as a thesis but as a
real person you may even like to put in
pictures of pregnancy photos to see how
your body and your womb is changing over
the course of the nine months through
this pregnancy journal you can write
about how you’re feeling and all those
thoughts so
that you’re beginning to form that
connection with your child in addition
to writing in a pregnancy journal the
second tip I want to give you today is
to massage the outside of your womb as
you massage the outside of the womb
you’re beginning to feel the movements
of the fetus and you can get your
partner involved as well by getting him
to help massage the womb as well which
is a great way for your partner to
connect with the baby as well as for you
and your partner to foster the
connection as well so get your sweet
smelling lotion massage the outside of
the womb and this is a great way for you
to bond with your child you may even
like to practice talking singing or even
reading children’s books to your child
during this time as it enables you to
practice your parenting skills as well
as helps familiarize your baby to your
voice
so through this massaging this can help
you to develop that strong connection
with your child and thirdly I would
encourage you to join a prenatal or
pregnancy yoga class through the slow
rhythmical movements and through the
deep breathing that you practice this
enables people to relax unwind and
de-stress which helps you to build a
better connection with your unborn child
this is also a great way to meet mothers
who are going through the same situation
as you so that you can feel that
camaraderie and sense of support around
you this is also a great way to build
those muscles in your pelvic floor so
that you’re ready for the birth of your
child
so through riding in a pregnancy Journal
massaging the outside of your womb as
well as joining a pregnancy yoga class
hopefully through these simple steps you
will be able to foster a strong loving
and warm bond with your unborn child and
in doing so we can give kids the best
chance to life and so
next time next month ursday when you’re
thinking about what to write in your
Mother’s Day card don’t forget to write
and say thank you to your mum for loving
you before you were born
thank you
[Applause]
what did you do last Mother’s Day some
people like to give their mums flowers
and chocolates others like to write a
meaningful card of encouragement to say
thank you to their mums my mum likes to
go out for lunch to spend time with
family
whichever way you spend Mother’s Day
today I want you to take a moment to
reflect on the significance of this
occasion why do we celebrate Mother’s
Day as you ponder this question some
reasons that may spring to mind
include how your mum tirelessly supports
you how she listens to you through thick
and thin or maybe how she cooked amazing
food and today I want to add another
reason to your list about why Mother’s
are just so pivotal to our lives and
this may be a reason that you may have
never considered before so to do this I
want to tell you about my research so
let’s start with a pop quiz behind me
you’re going to see some pictures and I
want you to raise your hand as to which
one you think is the correct answer the
question is when do you think the bond
between a mother and her child begins is
it a when a baby first begins to speak
and says its first words such as Mumma
or is it B when a baby is first born in
those first few moments after birth as a
mother cradles her newborn in her arms
as she lovingly looks down her love
swells up inside of her or finally is it
C during pregnancy before birth a mother
begins to connect with her child who
thinks it is a put your hand up who
thinks it’s B
and who thinks at sea great work exactly
right the bond between a mother and her
child
begins well before a mother even lays
eyes on her child and this develops in
those nine months of pregnancy and this
is what researchers like to call
prenatal attachment over the course of
pregnancy a mother begins to imagine
what her baby will be like when a child
will look like she has hopes dreams and
expectations for her child she may start
preparing the nursery throw a baby
shower start talking to her unborn child
she may even start feeling excited and
happy as well as maybe quitting smoking
and starting eating healthfully all of
these emotions these thoughts and all of
these behaviors represent this bond that
develops during pregnancy it’s a little
bit like when you prepare for a holiday
I recently went to Europe and I remember
all of the preparation that was involved
before the trip with booking flights
hotels figuring out where I wanted to go
and getting ready for all of the new
adventures in the same way mothers
prepare practically emotionally as well
as physically for the newest addition to
their family and so my research tried to
look at how prenatal attachment can then
have a bearing on that their baby later
on in life to see what the flow-on
effects were and so for my research we
tracked women all the way from the early
stages of pregnancy right up until birth
and when the babies were about 6 to 12
months old we recruited mothers from the
motto mothers Hospital in Brisbane which
is the largest paternity hospital in
Queensland here we ask mothers to tell
us about how they felt and how they
behaved and thought towards their unborn
child and we tried to see
if this was linked to how an infant is
able to process their sensory
information around them every day we are
processing and encountering a myriad of
sensory information from what we hear
touch see taste and feel but not only
that but also our internal body sense
one of those is called proprioception so
to demonstrate this sense that we have
we’re going to do an activity can
everyone please put their index finger
in the air now I want you to put it in
front of you I want you to close your
eyes now and slowly bring your index
finger to touch your nose now open your
eyes once you’ve done that okay put your
hands down who is able to touch their
nose put your hands up great so why is
it that we can do this even though we
have closed our eyes and this is because
we have receptors in our joints in our
bones that tell us where our body is in
space and where our body parts are in
relation to each other and so every day
we are processing all of this sensory
information around us infants for
example when they’re playing they might
have to process the visual information
of all the colors and all the objects of
their toys or perhaps maybe the textures
that they’re feeling of the Feltz in the
cubes as well as maybe the plastics of
the toys or take for example not be
changing the baby may be feeling the
mother adjust the nappy on them or maybe
even be smelling some things if it’s
full also when you look at feeding we
can see that babies are processing the
taste of the pureed food for example
whether it’s bitter sour or sweet and
may be hearing some things such as the
mum and dad talking to each other or
maybe the mum saying open
mmm so you can see here that babies are
always processing a range of sensory
information what we know from research
and what we know when we talk to
families is that some families have
children who enjoy sensory information
who are not phased not fast who a calm
cool and collected when faced with a
range of varied differing and
unpredictable sensory information in
contrast we find that some children are
more distractible more startles
irritated and even overwhelmed when
faced with this unpredictable sensory
stimuli and so my research tried to see
whether or not before birth the bond
between a mother and a child could have
a bearing on this and so what we did we
looked at how mothers responded to their
child before pregnancy and we tried to
see if it had a link with an infant’s
ability to process sensory information
at about six to twelve months after
birth we asked mothers to tell us how
their child responded to a range of
sensory stimuli such as loud noises or
maybe bright lights and we asked the
mums to tell us how irritable startled
or may be calm or soothed they were by
this sensory information our results
showed that mothers who had a stronger
more affectionate more loving bond with
their unborn child before birth were
more likely to have children who are
adaptable who are calm and soothed and
also happy when they experienced a range
of sensory stimuli in contrast mothers
who struggled or had a snake ative bond
with their unborn child or more likely
to have children who were more irritated
and distracted by all of this sensory
information and we know that sensory
processing skills are vital because it
lays the foundation to learn
out of other skills such as being able
to master the skill of talking
understanding language using your hands
to pick up objects and write as well as
using your bodies to learn to learn
skills such as how to walk crawl and
jump and so what we know from my
research is that we can give kids a head
start to life even before they’re born
by supporting mothers to develop a
strong warm and loving connection with
their baby before they’re born
we can unleash the potential of the next
generation through assisting mothers to
develop this warm bond and so today I
want to give you three tips so that you
can walk away so you can support either
yourself to develop a strong bond either
now or later in life or if you’re a dad
Ram Carin uncle aunty then you can maybe
support your relative as they’re going
through pregnancy if you’re not in that
life stage hopefully you can tuck away
these strategies for later and so the
first one I want to give you today is to
write in a pregnancy journal writing in
a pregnancy journal is a great way for
you to reflect on your feelings thoughts
as well as some of your expectations for
one for when the baby is born a lot of
how we parent our children is from the
way that we were parented so being aware
of all of those experiences in the past
and how this contributes to who you are
today is a really great way for you to
be able to be mindful of your parenting
this is also a really good way if you
wanted to put ultrasound images of your
baby so that you can start thinking of
your child not just as a thesis but as a
real person you may even like to put in
pictures of pregnancy photos to see how
your body and your womb is changing over
the course of the nine months through
this pregnancy journal you can write
about how you’re feeling and all those
thoughts so
that you’re beginning to form that
connection with your child in addition
to writing in a pregnancy journal the
second tip I want to give you today is
to massage the outside of your womb as
you massage the outside of the womb
you’re beginning to feel the movements
of the fetus and you can get your
partner involved as well by getting him
to help massage the womb as well which
is a great way for your partner to
connect with the baby as well as for you
and your partner to foster the
connection as well so get your sweet
smelling lotion massage the outside of
the womb and this is a great way for you
to bond with your child you may even
like to practice talking singing or even
reading children’s books to your child
during this time as it enables you to
practice your parenting skills as well
as helps familiarize your baby to your
voice
so through this massaging this can help
you to develop that strong connection
with your child and thirdly I would
encourage you to join a prenatal or
pregnancy yoga class through the slow
rhythmical movements and through the
deep breathing that you practice this
enables people to relax unwind and
de-stress which helps you to build a
better connection with your unborn child
this is also a great way to meet mothers
who are going through the same situation
as you so that you can feel that
camaraderie and sense of support around
you this is also a great way to build
those muscles in your pelvic floor so
that you’re ready for the birth of your
child
so through riding in a pregnancy Journal
massaging the outside of your womb as
well as joining a pregnancy yoga class
hopefully through these simple steps you
will be able to foster a strong loving
and warm bond with your unborn child and
in doing so we can give kids the best
chance to life and so
next time next month ursday when you’re
thinking about what to write in your
Mother’s Day card don’t forget to write
and say thank you to your mum for loving
you before you were born
thank you
[Applause]
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