OBJECTIVE: To outline the variety of the psychosocial needs of newborn children to be taken into account in maternal-child nursing and to present recommendations for good practice. DESIGN: Review article. SETTING: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy, Charles University, Prague. SUBJECT AND METHOD: This study is focused on psychological importance of birth experience for the newborn, early mother-child contact, initiation of breastfeeding as well as on the psychosocial needs of the preterm newborn and newborn children at health risk. Both conclusions of scientific literature and the results of our research demonstrate that respecting the psychosocial needs of the newborn in mother-child nursing is beneficial not only for psychological development of children, but also for their physical health in short-term as well as long-term perspective. CONCLUSION: Despite its rather high quality, the perinatal health care in the Czech republic still suffers from several shortcomings in the psychological field. More emphasis needs to be put on supporting the early mother-infant contact, individual needs of parturients and their infants and initiation of breastfeeding, especially as regards women after cesarean section delivery and mothers of preterm infants.

Katedra psychologie FF UK Praha

Social psychological predictors of satisfaction with intrapartum and postpartum care - what matters to women in Czech maternity hospitals?