Not Alone in NICU - by Rebecca Chilvers (Paperback)

About the Book

This compassionate companion will guide you through the emotional rollercoaster of parenting a baby in neonatal care. It provides clear explanations of medical jargon you might hear on the ward, and includes practical, versatile exercises to help you look after your own mental health while your baby is in hospital and afterwards.

Book Synopsis

Having a baby in neonatal care is often described as an emotional rollercoaster. Feeling overwhelmed and distressed is common and many parents experience anxiety, guilt, shame, anger and fear in a new and strange environment. You may not know where to turn or what to do next, but you are not alone.

Written by an experienced Consultant Clinical Psychologist specialising in neonatal care for over a decade, this book is a compassionate companion for parents of premature and sick babies. It will:

- Help you find ways to get through the first bewildering weeks
- Support you to look after the emotional wellbeing of yourself and your family
- Work your way through the complexities of becoming and parent and forming a relationship with your baby
- Help you make complex decisions and be involved in your baby's care
- Address your needs if your baby has a long term or life limiting condition
- Speak to the many specific challenges that arise whilst your baby is being treated in hospital
- Help you prepare for the transition to home and make sense of your experience

Containing over 50 tailored written exercise, links to supporting audio files, parent stories, key information and guidance this book will help you navigate the emotional challenges of your baby's stay in neonatal care.

Review Quotes

This is the book I wish I had when my baby was in neonatal intensive care. It is written as if Dr Chilvers is sitting calmly next to you and talking to you with warmth and kindness (and possibly a cup of tea). It is helpfully broken down into easily digestible chunks of information and supported by diagrams that bring things to life and help make sense of it all. Dr Chilvers makes me feel seen and heard as if she truly understands what I've been through. But it's more than that, as she doesn't just understand - she knows how to help. There are so many practical tips and techniques in this book - there is something for everyone. If you are parent of a baby in NICU, this is the only book you will ever need to read.--Dr Camilla Rosan, Consultant Perinatal Clinical Psychologist, Mum of two children (including one who was in NICU), Chair of the Faculty of Perinatal Psychology, British Psychological Society

This is a truly unique and beautiful book. Not only does Rebecca draw on psychological theory and clinical material to illuminate common experiences NICU parents and babies may have, but she does so with the clearsighted warmth and compassion of a seasoned clinician. Each chapter highlights a particular issue commonly faced by these families from managing work with a baby in NICU through to understanding how one's parenting journey may be impacted. Not Alone in NICU offers parents (and those supporting them) a rich explanatory framework within which to understand, reflect upon and make sense of their lived experiences in the NICU. Within the pages of this book parents will find the highs and lows of this parenting journey reflected and normalised. Highly recommend.--Julianne Boutaleb CPsychol AFBPsS, Consultant Perinatal Psychologist, Clinical Director - Parenthood In Mind

For the first time all parents can be accompanied throughout their NICU journey by this exceptional psychologist who has pioneered compassionate mind approaches within neonatal care. Packed with what most helped innumerable families, this book is a treasure.--Michelle Cree, author of 'The New Motherhood Workbook' and 'The Compassionate Mind Approach to Postnatal Depression'

About the Author

Dr Rebecca Chilvers is a consultant clinical psychologist specialising in neonatal care. She has worked with hundreds of families who have been through the neonatal journey with a wide range of experiences, backgrounds and outcomes and was one of the first neonatal psychologists to work in the UK developing the service at Evelina London. She now works as the lead neonatal psychologist for the East of England region and is actively involved in teaching, training, research and a range of initiatives to improve the psychological care of babies, parents and staff within the NHS, the chartable sector and as an independent consultant and clinician.