Contemporary Issues in Perinatal Education

Mary Nolan is well known for her work in perinatal education. She has published numerous articles and several books in the field, the most recent being Parent Education for the Critical 1000 Days. She has been Professor of Perinatal Education at the University of Worcester for 15 years and Honorary Professor at Nottingham University for 10 years. Prior to her University appointment, she worked as a birth and early parenting educator and trainer across the UK and in France, Belgium, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. In 2013, she was one of the founders of the International Journal of Birth and Parent Education and its first Editor-in-Chief.Shona Gore has facilitated antenatal and perinatal courses in the UK for those in the transition to parenthood during a 30-year career in childbirth education, relationship and birth education in schools (including for children with special learning needs) and workshops in adult education for NHS and Early Years’ Practitioners. In association with the Universities of Bedfordshire and Worcester, she has devised and taught courses to train NCT practitioners from entrance to degree level. In 2013, with Mary Nolan (Editor-in-Chief), she founded the International Journal of Birth and Parent Education.

• Part I: Preconception education 1.Preconception health, education and care: The earliest intervention. 2.Improving health and well-being before, between and beyond pregnancy. 3.Would you like to become pregnant in the next year? The key question® initiative in the United States. 4.Breastfeeding promotion in early learning settings. Part II: Building Parents’ Relationships with their Infants from Pregnancy Onwards. 5.Stressed pre- birth? How the foetus is affected by a mother’s state of mind. 6.Commentary: Motherhood in conditions of war- Biological and psychological routs to infant development. 7.Attachment: A play of closeness and distance. 8.Just chatting with a baby is more than you might think. 9.The musical key to babies’ cognitive and social development. 10."Daddy’s Funny!" Father’s playfulness with young children. 11.Creative play spaces: Finding the space for play. 12.Role of the parent-child attachment relationship. 13.The transition to parenthood and early child development in families with LGBTQ+ parents. Part III: Preparation for Labour and Birth. 14.Commentary: A Mindful approach to childbirth education and preparation for childbirth. 15.Preparing women for homebirth. 16.The power to transform: Freeing women’s instinctual potential for giving birth through body-centred preparation in pregnancy. Part IV: Education and Support for Parents of Twins. 17.Sleep patterns of twins. 18.Breastfeeding twins. 19Helping parents understand and navigate the twin bond. Part V: What parents need to know about sleeping, weaning, and the media. 20.Infant sleep and feeding in evolutionary perspective. 21.Sleep in early childhood: The role of bedtime routines. 22.Food fussiness in early childhood: Assessment and management. 23.Weaning a baby onto a vegan diet. 24.A Relationship-based framework for early childhood media use. Part VI: The ‘How’ of education and supporting parents 25.Commentary: Tug of War- Could polarised parenting advice cause harm? 26.Exploring the application (or use) of educational theory in perinatal parenting through four theorists. 27.Group intervention to treat fear of childbirth with psycho-education and relaxation exercises. 28.Commentary- parenting programmes are not culturally relevant to many communities. 29.Approachable parenting: The five pillars of parenting pregnancy and beyond programme for Muslim families. 30.Heteronormative obstacles in regular antenatal education and the benefits of LGBTQ certified options: Experiences among prospective LGBTQ parents in Sweden. 31.A psychodynamic approach to working with pregnant teenagers and young parents. 32.Fathers prenatal relationships with ‘their’ baby and ‘her’ pregnancy- implications for antenatal education. 33.Tips for facilitating antenatal education online.