Free  workshop on pregnancy and parenthood at the Babylab

Top tips to help parents through the first few years of their baby’s life will be on offer at a free event hosted by the  Babylab at the University of Essex next month.

The workshop, From the first steps to the first kicks is aimed at parents-to-be and those with babies up to a year old. It will cover a range of topics from bonding with your baby and getting a good night’s sleep, to maintaining relationships between couples and mental health.

It will be led by experts, including child development researchers and health professionals, although as Dr Maria Laura Filippetti, one of the organisers, explained, the real experts are the parents themselves.  

“People feel they need to follow textbooks and rules to be good parents. We want to help them recognise that they have all it takes to be the real experts of their babies. In this workshop we will have sessions on specific aspects of pregnancy and parenthood, but there will also be a lot of discussion and sharing of experiences,” she said.

The Essex Babylab is where academics, from the Department of Psychology, carry out cutting-edge research into all aspects of child development. They work closely with health and child care professionals to provide support and advice to parents through online platforms and events.

Dr Silvia Rigato, team leader of the Essex Babylab, said: “New parents receive a variety of advice and information from different sources, with very little continuity as they move from one stage of parenthood to the next.  Our aim is to provide them with support and advice, based on scientific evidence, which will help them on their journey from pregnancy through the first few years of their baby’s life.”

The workshop will run from 10:30am to 1.30pm on Saturday 28 September at the University’s Colchester Campus. Tickets are free, but must be booked in advance online at: babymenotausermanual.eventbrite.co.uk. A similar event, held last year, proved very popular, so early booking is recommended.