Notre recherche s’intéresse au vécu du bébé dans la dyade lorsque la mère a vécu un événement traumatique et que lui ne l’a pas vécu. Pour ce faire, nous explorons l’impact du trauma maternel sur le contre-transfert d’un groupe de thérapeutes. Cette recherche qualitative est réalisée à partir d’entretiens collectifs. Des entretiens de recherche filmés mère-bébé ont été diffusé à huit focus groupes d’en moyenne cinq thérapeutes. Nous avons adopté une double méthode d’analyse du matériel : une analyse phénoménologique interprétative (Smith,2009) et une analyse psychanalytique de la dynamique groupale. Les résultats de notre étude mettent en avant la présence de manifestations contre-transférentielles intenses, s’exprimant à travers des réactions corporelles, sensorielles, verbales et affectives. L’exposition aux éléments irreprésentables du trauma, crée, une tension au sein du groupe, entraînant un repli sur des systèmes interactifs connus, et perturbe le recours aux outils de pensée habituels. L’enveloppe groupale et la fonction contenante sont particulièrement mobilisées et impactées par le récit des événements traumatiques. A travers les éprouvés sensoriels et les mécanismes d’empathie métaphorisante (Lebovici, 1998), les thérapeutes ont mis en lumière un sentiment de détresse originelle chez les bébés et des vécus d’abandon chez les plus grands. La dimension groupale favorise, cependant, le déploiement de mécanismes de défenses spécifiques permettant une relance des processus de pensée et de transformation. Cette recherche met en lumière les potentialités créatives d’un dispositif composé d’une équipe interprétante, dans la prise en charge de ces dyades, imposant la reconnaissance et l’analyse des éléments contretransférentiels et intertransférentiels. / Our qualitative research is part of a larger one which objective is to shed light on the infant’s experience in the context of his/her relationship to his/her traumatized mother. The mother’s trauma must have had occurred without the infant’s presence. Our section explores the impact of mother’s trauma on the countertransference reactions within focus groups of therapists. Eight groups composed each of four to five participants are shown a videotaped research interview of a traumatized mother and her infant. The data collected is analyzed upon the principles of two methods : the interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 2009) for the narrative discourse and the psychoanalytic analysis for the groups’ dynamics. Participants’expressed intense countertransference reactions : physical, sensory, cognitive and affective reactions. Exposure to the unrepresentable traumatic elements induces high tension in the group. The latter consequently withdraw into known interactional patterns as its thinking capacity seemed corroded by the toxicity of the traumatic elements.The “group envelope” and its holding function are eminently activated and impacted by the narrative of the traumatic events.Through the sensorial receptivity and the “metaphorizing empathy” (Lebovici, 1998) process,the participants’ reactions depict the original helplessness and the experience of abandonment experienced by new borns and infants. Moreover, the group dimension fosters the deployment of specific defensive mechanisms and restores the thinking and transforming processes. Our results reveal the pertinence and creativity of group settings in the treatment of mother-infant dyads stuck in the realm of trauma transmission. A group setting offers several interpretative capacities through the identification and analysis of countertransference and inter-transferencemechanisms.

BACKGROUND: Quantitative evidence of direct links between dietary intake during pregnancy and maternal and infant outcomes in the preterm population is lacking in the literature. However, studies are starting to investigate relationships between them, and data shows that many of the adverse effects of poor maternal diet are linked to inflammatory response and dysbiosis of the microbiome in both the mother and her offspring. OBJECTIVE: Our objective with this study was to analyze the relationships between sociodemographic factors, maternal diet, pH of breast milk, and infant inflammation. We aimed to assess the dietary pattern of our population of mothers who delivered preterm in comparison to other populations, as well as explore the possibility of using pH of mother’s own milk in future research. METHODS: We reviewed the Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) of participants to gather clinical and demographic characteristics (infants n = 53; mothers n = 45). Maternal participants also completed the Dietary Screener Questionnaire (DSQ). Spearman’s rank correlation and raw unadjusted linear regression analyses were used to investigate relationships between maternal diet and characteristics, mother’s own milk pH, and infant urinary intestinal fatty acid binding protein (I-FABP). Kruskal Wallis analysis was used to analyze between group differences of maternal comorbidities. RESULTS: None of our maternal participants met the guidelines for dietary recommendations by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for pregnant women. This follows the trend in national data for women who are pregnant. The greatest number of women met the recommendation for fiber intake (n = 12). Maternal intake of fiber and whole grains was negatively correlated with pH of mother’s own milk (p <0.5). We did not find any significant correlations between maternal characteristics and maternal diet or pH of mother’s own milk. However, meeting the guidelines for added sugars differed by race (p = 0.03). We found no statistically significant correlations between urinary I-FABP and pH of mother’s own milk or maternal dietary intake. Urinary I-FABP values differed by infant sex (p = 0.03) and infant feeding status (> 50% formula or donor milk vs. < 50% formula or donor milk, p = 0.03). Analysis by groups showed statistically significant differences (p = 0.04). Preeclamptic participants had a higher intake of whole grains (0.97 oz) than women without preeclampsia (0.69 oz). Mothers with gestational diabetes had a lower intake of sugar (14.4 tsp) compared to women without diabetes (17.9 tsp) (p = 0.01). We found no other statistically significant results between groups for maternal diet, milk pH, or urinary I-FABP. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that additional research on mother’s own milk pH may be warranted, and that continued education on the importance of a healthy diet and its benefits during pregnancy is needed. Areas of planned future research include fat intake calculations and inflammatory measures of the maternal dietary data.