Elspeth Pitman gains certification in Newborn Behavioural Observations

Head of Graduates: Placement, Employment and Alumni, Elspeth Pitman recently completed training on communication and connection in newborn babies.

Elspeth completed the Newborn Behavioural Observations (NBO) training offered by The Brazelton Centre UK. This two-day virtual course focuses on enhancing communication and connection between newborns and their caregivers, a cornerstone of early years development.

The Brazelton Centre is a charity dedicated to supporting parent-baby relationships and promoting the understanding of newborn capabilities. The NBO training equips practitioners with the skills to interpret newborn behavioural states and self-regulatory behaviours, understand stress cues in infants, support parents and carers, and enable more responsive and nurturing caregiving.

The course highlighted the ways in which newborn babies seek to communicate and connect from the moment they are born, which in turn is vital for brain development and social and emotional development.

Elspeth said: “I have been enjoying practicing the NBO with a couple of newborn babies and parents recently – it is quite incredible what babies can communicate to us without words, particularly when we slow down our pace, watch and interact with them.”

This achievement not only highlights Elspeth’s commitment to staying current in her own practice but also reinforces Norland’s ethos of integrating cutting-edge research and training into our students’ and graduates’ practice.