The Family-Centred Maternity and Newborn
Care: National Guidelines, 4th Edition,
were developed as a result of a collaborative process involving
health care providers and consumers. As we move into the new
millennium, these Guidelines will help us achieve the
objective that we all share - a healthy and satisfying pregnancy,
birth and postpartum experience for all mothers, babies and
families.
Family-centred maternity and newborn care is a complex, multidimensional, dynamic process of providing safe, skilled and individualized care. It responds to the physical, emotional and psychosocial needs of the woman and her family. In family-centred maternity and newborn care, pregnancy and birth are considered normal, healthy life events. As well, family-centred maternity and newborn care recognizes the significance of family support, participation, and choice. It effect, it reflects an attitude rather than a protocol.