‘Containing the container’: an exploration of the mother–midwife relationship

Abstract This paper aims to explore how sensitive care in pregnancy, labour and birth may influence a mother's emotional availability to her newborn infant. At a micro level, using extracts from close clinical observations the paper investigates how anxieties and defences from previous grief and trauma are revisited and reworked particularly during the intense emotional event of labour and birth. The paper highlights the nature of the relationship between mother and midwife and proposes the development of a containing partnership. At a macro level, the evolution of an increasingly empathic and relational quality of midwifery practice as a result of infant mental health training will also be explored.