Welcoming Consciousness: Supporting Babies' Wholeness from the Beginning of Life-An Integrated Model of Early Development

by Wendy Anne McCarty

Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology has been studying our earliest development from the baby's point of view for over 30 years. Findings reveal we are conscious, aware beings who already have a sense of self as we begin human life. This book explores the mysteries of our multidimensional nature and the extraordinary stories babies, children, and adults tell us of their life in the womb and during birth. Nearly all of today's early development models and understandings assume biology is our primary nature and that the capacity for sentience is dependent on brain development. Our current professional and parenting practices are built upon these fundamental assumptions. The Integrated Model of early development developed in Welcoming Consciousness moves beyond current biology-first models to embrace both our transcendent and human perspectives and capacities and evolves how we can best support babies' multidimensional wholeness and human potential from the beginning of life. The Integrated Model is built upon clinical findings and extensive review of research in infant development, prenatal and perinatal psychology, integral psychology, and consciousness studies. The touching clinical stories included bring these new concepts alive and the 30 page bibliography gives the reader avenues to explore this territory more fully.
"This unique work of Dr. McCarty is an intellectual milestone-the first attempt to integrate theory and practice of prenatal and perinatal psychology with other developmental theories." -- David Chamberlain, PhD, author, The Mind of Your Newborn Baby
" Welcoming Consciousness is an exceptional asset to the growing understanding of both the exquisite awareness and delicate vulnerabilities that babies bring with them into the world. All those interested in enhancing the well-being of prenates, newborns, and toddlers will benefit from the wisdom that Dr. McCarty shares from her vast clinical experience and research." -- Peter A. Levine, PhD, co-author Trauma Through a Child's Eyes and author, In An Unspoken Voice
"An enlightened culture would attend to the developmental needs of its newborn and unborn with exquisite care and consciousness. This extraordinary book tells us how." -- Donna Eden, author, Energy Medicine and Energy Medicine for Women
"I highly recommend Welcoming Consciousness , its perspective on integrating mind, body and spirit has the potential to change the world. Dr. McCarty's synthesis of leading edge biomedical science, current psychology and the awareness acquired through her professional practice provides an important contribution to our understanding of human experience." -- Bruce H. Lipton, author, The Biology of Belief ; co-author, Spontaneous Evolution

Genres: Psychology, Parenting

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great and thorough scientific perspective on a topic that many people wrongly label as “out there.” This book gives scientific backing to the idea that babies’ transcendental nature is present prenatally and as infants, and that they have a wholeness of spirit that deserves love and respect as sentient beings.

I found the info and evidence about how the birth process (and pregnancy) can imprint infants and can affect their subconscious beliefs and even physical bodies very intriguing. So much info here that has the ability to affect how the mainstream views infant development. There were parts that were a bit dense in science language, but the personal accounts and case studies balanced it for me.

This seems like an intro and foundation to these concepts, and I would love to see an easy to interpret and follow guideline for parents on HOW to support their infants after learning this. I saw in her afterword she mentioned this need as well, and gave a few tips/guiding principles. Sounds like that could be another book that could take this one step farther into integration of this info for parents.

Overall, a fantastic, thought provoking book!

[Heiki Eesmaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exciting and inspiring even though there are numerous cons like:
- it is really a lengthy essay made up of excerpts of various authors;
- the editing is poor;
- if you were cynical the content could be summed up in a paragraph
- ...

But I understand it more as a speech or a poem, written to inspire and to stimulate further pre- and perinatal work.