Cancelled

Little is known about the experience of in-patient postnatal care for those giving birth within an alongside midwife-led unit in the UK. Evolutionary medicine has been used in the past to develop interventions to support evolved maternal-infant biology within clinical postnatal settings. This research aimed to trial an evolutionary-informed intervention (an in-bed bassinet), to improve parent-infant closeness, to facilitate responsive parent-infant care and to understand the experiences of families receiving postnatal care within a UK alongside midwife-led unit. Families who gave birth to their first infant in an alongside birth centre in the North East of England were randomly allocated either an in-bed bassinet or a standalone bassinet for their inpatient postnatal stay. Video was used to observe caregiver-infant interactions throughout the postnatal stay and assess the influence of bassinet allocation on breastfeeding, parent-infant contact, maternal sleep, and staff presence. Following participation semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subsample of participants to understand the acceptability of the bassinet and gather feedback on their postnatal experiences.

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Please join in for an informal lunch with the presenter, staff and students beforehand 12.00 to 13.00 – bring your own lunch. Non-alcoholic drinks, nibbles and tea/coffee with biscuits are provided. All welcome!)

Location: G10, Department for Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol 43, Woodland Road, BS8 1UU, ground floor.
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