Don’t drop the baby!
Mothers in the UK HealthCare PAThways program for pregnant women in recovery from substance use disorder were able to continue to come for treatment and support after their infants were born. It was not unusual to have a baby in the room during our quarterly Jin Shin Jyutsu classes.
When I taught the simple holds for mothers to use on their infants, we used life sized infant dolls. They were male and female, in many ethnicities, and everyone was invited to grab the one that felt the best to them. I had a series of four holds I would teach the expectant mothers that I’d developed with the help of Jin Shin Jyutsu faculty member Philomena Dooley. Philomena was a nurse who specialized in infant care prior to her becoming an instructor and Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner. The focus for the mothers was full Jin Shin Jyutsu training, just a few holds that they could do on their own to calm and relax their infants. A calm infant equaled a less stressed mother and a mother in stress at PATHways could be a mother than returned to substance use.
Helen arrived to class with her month old infant swaddled in his portable carseat, feeling fussy. As we moved through the class, the baby became more agitated. I encouraged Helen, who had attended Jin Shin Jyutsu class prior to her delivery to pick up her baby and apply what I was calling the Mother Hold (sorry guys). This is a deeply nurturing hold that entails lightly touching the back of the underarm on one side of the baby’s body with the back hip on the opposite side.
Out the baby came from the car seat to lie against Helen, heart to heart. Helen leaned back to give a better angle for her son and began the hold. As we all watched, the baby began to quiet its fussiness and drifted off to sleep, breathing deeply. We continued our class.
A few minutes later, we noticed that Helen was also relaxing and drifting off. “Don’t let her drop the baby!” I whispered. One of the women lightly held the infant in place as mother and baby rested. Helen made my class the most successful of all. All the women could see with their own eyes how beneficial Jin Shin Jyutsu could be for their babies. They practiced and watched in awe as Helen and infant slept blissfully.