Glossary

Term · Postpartum: Mind

Bringing Baby Home

Also: Bringing Baby Home program, BBH

A couples program that teaches partners how to share the work and support each other after a baby arrives. Studies have tested it in new parents.

In plain words

Bringing Baby Home is a program for couples who are . Researchers designed it to help partners talk through the changes a new baby brings, how they share chores and care, and how they handle conflict. Sessions often happen during pregnancy and in the first months after birth. Similar programs go by other names, such as Family Foundations. Research has tested these programs with modest samples. Some studies found better relationship satisfaction, better mood, and better infant outcomes. Other studies found small effects that faded over time. The programs are one way to prepare as a couple. They do not replace mental health care when a parent is struggling.

The deeper version

Bringing Baby Home is a couple-focused transition-to-parenthood program built on the Gottman approach to relationship skills (Shapiro and Gottman, Journal of Family Communication, 2005). Its randomized evaluation with modest samples showed improvements in couple satisfaction, , and infant outcomes. Family Foundations (Feinberg and colleagues), tested in multiple randomized trials from 2008 onward, produced small to moderate improvements in , parental mental health, and child adjustment, with follow-up to age 7. A meta-analysis of 21 couple-focused programs (Pinquart and Teubert, Family Relations, 2010) found small effects on couple communication and satisfaction, with less consistent effects on depression. Heterogeneity in program length, delivery, and outcome measures limits direct comparison across studies.

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Sources

  • Shapiro AF, Gottman JM — Effects on marriage of a psycho-educational intervention with couples undergoing the transition to parenthood. Journal of Family Communication, 2005
  • Pinquart M, Teubert D — Meta-analysis of couple-focused transition to parenthood programs. Family Relations, 2010

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