Introduction: Close emotional bands develop between mother and child and begin already during pregnancy, several factors affect how this band develops. Fetal life and the first few hours after childbirth are important for the infant's emotional development. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how midwives in post-natal care pay attention to emotional reactions in the mother, which these reactions are and how the midwives consider themselves to promote the relationship between mother and child. Issues: How do midwives describe that they pay attention to emotional reactions in the mother after childbirth, and what reactions are described? And how do midwives describe that they are working to promote the relationship between mother and child during the aftercare? Method: Five midwives working in the aftercare were interviewed based on a qualitative approach. The data collection method that has been used for this study is a semi-structured interview. The study material has been processed using an inductive thematic analysis. Result: What appears in the study is that midwives find it central to identify the woman's way of thinking about the child's needs and her ability to interpret the child's signals. The participants pay particular attention to those women where the emotional stress has been great after giving birth and can be assumed to need support. Discussion: Most studies and literature support what emerged from this study on the midwives' knowledge and experience about emotional reactions and its influence on the relationship between mother children. The mother's care for the child's needs and the midwife's work in promoting the relationship between these two can be interpreted as the concept of mentalization. / Inledning: Nära känslomässiga band utvecklas mellan mor och barn och påbörjas redan under graviditeten, flertalet faktorer påverkar hur detta band utvecklas. Fosterlivet och de första timmarna efter förlossningen är av betydelse för spädbarnets känslomässiga utveckling. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur barnmorskor inom eftervården uppmärksammar känslomässiga reaktioner hos modern, vilka dessa reaktioner är och hur barnmorskorna anser sig främja relationen mellan mor och barn. Frågeställningar: Hur beskriver barnmorskorna att de uppmärksammar känslomässiga reaktioner hos modern efter förlossningen, och vilka reaktioner beskrivs? Samt hur beskriver barnmorskorna att de arbetar för att främja relationen mellan mor och barn under eftervården? Metod: Fem barnmorskor verksamma inom eftervården intervjuades utifrån en kvalitativ ansats. Datainsamlingsmetod som har används för denna studie är en semistrukturerad intervju. Studiens material har bearbetas med hjälp av en induktiv tematisk analys. Resultat: Det som framkommer i studien är att barnmorskorna finner centralt att identifiera är kvinnans sätt att tänka om barnets behov och hennes förmåga att tolka barnets signaler. Deltagarna uppmärksammar särskilt de kvinnor där den känslomässiga påfrestningen har varit stor efter förlossningen och kan antas behöva stöd. Diskussion: Flertalet studier samt litteratur stödjer det som framkom i denna studie om barnmorskornas kunskap och erfarenhet om känslomässiga reaktioner och dess påverkan på relationen mellan mor barn. Moderns omsorg om barnets behov samt barnmorskans arbete i att främja relationen mellan dessa två kan tolkas till begreppet mentalisering.

The overall aim of the Educational Process Reflection (EPR) studies has been to develop a better understanding concerning interaction between adults and children and the conditions for children’s peer play and interaction within the pre-school arena. The ultimate goal of the present study is to explore how practitioners through the use of EPR may develop the dimension of social interaction between practitioners and children and between children, in order to consciously create a more healthy and inclusive experience for all children and especially for children at risk. The study is based on a hermeneutic and a socio cultural perspective and a combination of activity theory and object relation theory. The methodology draws on activity theory and Yrjö Engeström’s (1987) development work research and specifically a more elaborated version of learning activity termed Educational Process Reflection, which is a model for professional development created in the previous EPR-studies presented in Bygdeson-Larsson (2005a; b; 2006). It builds on practitioners´ observations of peer play interactions and practitioners retold experiences of interaction with the children. The model consists of an oscillation between EPR-sessions and pre-school practice. The results of the study are presented in a narrative way and show how changes in pre-school grow out of collaborative reflection combined with new theoretical perspectives. The practitioners´ competence or professionalism concerning the interactive dimension was improved and individual children at risk got new and better conditions for being included in positive peer play and interaction experiences. The pre-school turned out to become a resilient environment for children in peer play and interactive difficulties. The main results illuminate and give an understanding of how practitioners´ ways of working with children in peer play problems or special needs turned out to become more resilient and how children got better possibilities to be included in positive ways. It also enhances the understanding of how the processes in peer play situations changed for the better for other children and how the whole climate in the pre-school also seemed to change and become more inclusive. Overall the results of this study bring about an enhanced understanding of the complexity of the pre-school seen as an activity system and the need for new tools concerning interactive processes. This study implicates that pre-school practitioners own investigation and reflection of interactive processes in pre-school is essential, and may well be used before applying a categorising or diagnostic approach concerning children in special needs. This study has implications for professional development, researcher-practitioner co-operation and consultative activities concerning pre-schools and children. The present study implies that all these activities have an advantage of taking the dynamics of the pre-school as an activity system into account before focusing on practitioners or children as individuals.