DVD shows new mothers how to 'Talk 2 Baby'

Specialist speech and language therapist Hannah Murtagh and specialist midwife Sally Roberts both work with teenagers who are pregnant or mothers as part of Flying Start, Wales's early intervention programme aimed at families with children under the age of four. During a joint home visit, a young mother asked them, 'Do I need to talk to my baby?'

'The question was the main impetus for the DVD developed by Flying Start in Swansea,' says Sally Roberts. 'Some teenage parents do not realise the importance of talking to their babies, particularly at the early non-verbal stage of communication development.'

Joining them was community nursery nurse Sian Suggett. 'We felt it was really important to come together from different fields and share our expertise,' she says.

The trio decided to develop a visual, rather than written, resource because of its users' tendency to poor literacy skills. Their objective was to demonstrate the importance of:

• bonding at the ante-natal and post-natal stages

• talking to your baby from early pregnancy

• effective adult-child interactions as the basis for positive relationships.

Teenage mothers are featured from the ante-natal stage through to when their baby is nine months old, in a variety of settings: home, family centres and ante-natal and ultrasound departments in hospital. The mothers are seen engaging in a variety of activities, including:

• talking and singing to the unborn baby

• responding to fetal activity

• copying and imitating their baby's actions

• playing early communication games such as peek-a-boo

• engaging in exploratory play using everyday objects.

Also included are messages about the adverse effects that watching television and using dummies can have on young children's language development.

It was hoped that improved mother-baby interaction would benefit the mothers as well as their children. Teenage mothers are three times more likely to develop postnatal depression than their adult counterparts and improved mother-baby interaction would hopefully reduce their susceptibility to this (Ermisch, 2003).

To evaluate the project, the nine mothers involved in the DVD were asked to comment on the activities and do a questionnaire covering their level of communication with their baby and their feelings about playing, talking and bonding with their child. Before the project, the mothers averaged 4.6 out of 10, a score that rose to 8.8 once the project was complete. Sally Roberts says, 'All involved in the production of the DVD felt that this was a positive project with beneficial effects on the teenage parents and their babies.'

MORE INFORMATION

The DVD 'Talk 2 Baby' costs £5 plus 66p p&p. To order a copy, e-mail: yvonne.griffiths5@wales.nhs.uk