Glossary of Terms
A
- American Academy of Paediatrics
- An organisation formed in 1930 by doctors specialising in the treatment of
children. It now has 55,000 members in the United States, Canada and Latin
America
- Anaesthetic
- A substance that causes lack of feeling or awareness. A local anaesthetic causes loss of feeling in a part of the body. For example, a dentist uses a local anaesthetic when he "freezes" a tooth. A general anaesthetic puts the person to sleep.
- Apathetic
- Showing no emotion or interest in anything.
- Attachment Parenting
-
Attachment Parenting is a style of parenting that develops an infant or child's need for trust, empathy, and affection to create secure, peaceful, and enduring relationships.
B
- Bag of Waters
- The fluid-filled sac that encloses and protects the baby in the womb. It breaks at the beginning of the birthing process and releases its fluid.
- Bonding
- The feelings parents have for their children.
C
- Carbolic acid
- A very poisonous, corrosive substance made from coal tar. Carbolic acid was used in the past to sterilise wounds.
- Cervix
- Mouth of the uterus (womb). As labour begins the cervix thins and opens
- Caesarean section
- A major operation to deliver a baby by cutting through the abdomen and into the womb and removing the baby through the opening.. (also called a C-section).
- C-section
- A major operation in which a doctor cuts through the mother's abdomen into her womb and removes the baby through the opening. (also called Caesarean section)
- Character Disorders
- Behaviours that cause difficulty in getting along with others, difficulty holding a job or distress for the person and/or those around them. They are usually recognisable by adolescence or earlier and last a lifetime.
- Circumcision
- Cutting off the foreskin that covers the end of the penis.
- Clitoris
- Small, erectile organ of the female.
- Colic
-
Sudden outbursts of inconsolable crying, lasting at least three hours a day, three days a week for at least three weeks, beginning within the first three weeks of life and seldom lasting longer than three months.
- Contracts
- This applies to a drawing together for a reduction of area or length.
- Contraction
- During labour, the muscles in the wall of the womb tighten and then relax more and more often. This causes the baby to be gradually pushed out.
- Cortosil
-
An important stress hormone secreted by the outer shell of the adrenal gland.
D
- Doula (pronounced "doola")
- A woman trained to provide continuous emotional and physical -- but non-medical -- support before during and after childbirth. As an outsider she can be more objective than a family member, and as a non-professional can help prevent hospital procedures and regulations that block intimacy. Studies have shown that having a doula can shorten labour, reduce the use of drugs, reduce the rate of C-sections and increase the rate of breast feeding. Women who have a midwife while giving birth probably do not need a doula.
E
- Enema
- Putting fluid into the rectum. It is usually given for constipation.
- Episiotomy
- A surgical incision cut in the opening to the vagina to make it larger for the baby to pass through at the time of birth. After the baby is born the cut edges are sewn back together.
- Estrogen
- A hormone secreted by the ovary. It acts on the female genitalia to produce an environment suitable for the fertilisation, implantation and nutrition of the early embryo (foetus).
- Evolution
- A gradual process in which something changes into a different and usually more complex form.
Evolution encompasses the changes experienced by a particular species over thousands and millions of generations as it reproduces varying offspring, more of which are better suited to survive in their environment than the generation before.
F
G
- Gestation
- The period of time a baby is carried in the uterus; full-term gestation is between 38 and 42 weeks (counted from the first day of the last menstrual period).
- Genetics
- The study of the patterns of inheritance of specific traits. Genetic "inheritance DNA" that is passed from parents to children.
H
- Hormones
- Substances produced by the different glands in the body. Hormones are carried by the blood and influence other parts of the body.
I
- Immunity
- When a body's immune system helps fend off disease.
J
K
L
- Latched on
- This is a term used when a baby is nursing properly. The baby's gums should cover approximately one inch of the area around the nipple.
M
- Mammal
- Animals that are warm-blooded, have a backbone and breast feed their young.
- Masturbation.
- The stimulation of the genital organs for sexual pleasure in some way other than sexual intercourse.
- Midwife
- A person, usually another woman, who assists the mother during childbirth.
N
- Neurotransmitter
-
A substance that is released from the axon terminal of one nerve cell (neuron) and travels across a synapse to another neuron
- Neurotransmission
-
Passage of signals from one nerve cell to another via chemical substances or electrical signals.
O
- Obstetrician
- A doctor who has had special training in treating pregnant women and delivering babies.
- Obstetrics
- A branch of medicine dealing with the care of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the time which they recover from childbirth.
- Orgasm
- The climax of sexual excitement that is usually accompanied by the ejaculation of semen in the male and vaginal contractions in the female.
- Ovarian
- Relating to, affecting, or involving an ovary.
- Ovulation
-
The monthly release of a mature egg from an ovary into one of the Fallopian tubes. A woman is most fertile
in the days just before and on the day of ovulation.
P
- Philosophy
- An overall vision for guidance in life or some aspect of life.
- Placenta
- The organ formed in the lining of the womb to provide nourishment for the growing baby.
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- A mental disorder that is the result of intense psychological trauma. The symptoms include continued flashbacks, nightmares, and intense distress when exposed to an object or situation that is related to the traumatic
event.
Q
R
- Rooming-in
-
Care of the newborn infant in the same room as the mother, instead of in a nursery, during the hospital stay.
S
- Securely Attached
-
Infants who develop a secure attachment to the parents in the first years of life.
- Security
-
The children are secure in the knowledge that their parents love them and will meet their needs.
- Synapse
-
The gap between two nerve cells.
- Synchronise
-
Occurring at the same time. Doing things at the right time with each other, as in dancing.
T
- Toxic
- Damaging or harmful. Having the effect of a poison. When used in relation
to parents it refers to the emotional damage they cause their children.
U
- Umbilical Cord
-
A cordlike structure connecting the fetus with the placenta during pregnancy, carrying nourishment from the mother.
-
- Uterine
- Relating to, occurring in, or affecting the uterus (womb).
V
W
- Wet Nurse
- A woman who breast feeds the child of another woman.
- World Health Organisation (WHO)
- The International organisation that promotes "health for all" worldwide. It tries to ensure that resources for health are evenly distributed and that essential health care is accessible to everyone.
X
Y
Z