Professionals with trauma experience from the Dutch EMDR Association have drawn up a supporting letter with an explanation to pregnant women who are in war situations.

Фахівці з травматологічним стажем склали супровідний лист із поясненнями для вагітних жінок, які перебувають на війні – Голландська асоціація EMDR.

A circle is a perfect way of visualizing the relationship between a parent (and other caregivers) and a child. These visuals help in different languages to explain your importance as a safe haven and secure basis to explore from and return back to.

• Ukrainian Circles of Safety and Trust
• Dutch Circles of Safety and Trust
• Arab Circles
• English Circles
• Polish Circles

Check the Circle of Security International for more animations, explanations and different languages: Circles of Security.

The ZERO TO THREE Military Family Projects cover a lot of subjects, especially for families with a parent who take part in the army. Zero to Three works to increase awareness and collaboration throughout the military community so that parents and professionals can care for very young children and their families more effectively.
Relevant topics are: behavior of children, staying in contact while employed, how to reconnect after separation, selfcare as a military family. 

Check the following: 

• App Babies on the Homefront provides military and veteran parents ideas for enhancing everyday moments with their baby or toddler. Parents will find lots of material to add to their toolbox of strategies.
• Videos about how to connect in difficult separation situations and how to deal with stress and difficult behavior

Psychotherapist Philippa Perry explains about talking with little ones about war. She said: ‘It is natural to want our children to be happy all the time, but we compromise their capacity for happiness when we try to shut down feelings that we might see as undesirable, such as being panicked or worried.’

Read more:

• Be open, be honest and listen: how to talk to children about Ukraine
• https://www.unicef.org/parenting/how-talk-your-children-about-conflict-and-war

Are you pregnant in Ukraine? Do you need online help? Do you have questions, or do you want to video call with a midwife from The Netherlands?
In Partu connects online midwives to pregnant women in Ukraine via inpartu.nl. 

You can make a free account on the largest community for midwives in The Netherlands and ask your questions directly! In Partu supports you around the world, when there is no other medical assistence.

If you need professional mental health care, you can contact a registered psychologist with specialization on pregnancy and young children and families from the Netherlands.
Wereld Psychologen is a foundation from the Netherlands that offers free mental health care through (video) calling. Confidentiality is their top priority. If you are interested, you can send an email with your name and mobile number to wereldpsychologen@gmail.com.

The World Psychologists Foundation links Ukrainian refugees in psychological distress to psychologists who offer voluntary support. Another initiative is Psyglobal. PsyGlobal connects foreign language and displaced people with psychological complaints to mental health professionals with the same demographic and cultural background.

UNICEF together with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, have launched an online kindergarten featuring educational and developmental videos for children aged 3-6. The project aims to help parents engage their children in educational and developmental activities thus providing them with a semblance of normality during the war. 

The online kindergarten is part of the NUMO project – a platform which features useful tips, interesting exercises and games, helping preschoolers learn important skills for further development and prevent them from losing the skills they have already acquired. The first episode is available on the MEGOGO video platform, as well as on the digital platforms of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and UNICEF.

To view the first episode of the NUMO online kindergarten on MEGOGO, please click here: https://megogo.net/ua/view/18037755

New episodes will be uploaded daily. The video is also available on the UNICEF YouTube channel https://youtu.be/t6iN1uGYeV8

What to do if you are in an emergency situation with a child in your arms, how to organize feeding and keep the baby safe? The first thing to remember is that breastfed babies should continue to receive breast milk. Stressful situations do not affect milk production. Milk quality does not change due to anxiety, panic or stress. Only in rare cases, the ability to lactate can be temporary affected, stress and danger can slow down the flow of milk. Continuing to breastfeed as often as possible will increase this flow. Frequent breastfeeding ensures the production of the required amount of breast milk.

Do not start giving your baby a pacifier, bottle or formula if you have not done this before.

Read on >>

By understanding how children experience traumatic events and how these children express their lingering distress over the experience, parents, physicians, communities, and schools can respond to their children and help them through this challenging time. The goal is to restore balance to these children’s lives and the lives of their families.

Self-help techniques to help cope with stress

Doing What Matters in Times of Stress. This is an illustrated stress management guide for coping with adversity. The guide aims to equip people with practical skills to help cope with stress. A few minutes each day are enough to practice the self-help techniques. The guide can be used alone or with the accompanying audio exercises. Informed by evidence and extensive field testing, the guide is for anyone who experiences stress, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances.   

The guide is available in different languages including Ukrainian

Preschoolers do not understand what has gone wrong but are very sensitive to things not being right. They will struggle to express their fears or thoughts and will show this through changes in behavior and how they function. They will need assistance to make them feel safe and to help them understand the experience.

Better health channel Australia explains and helps to cope with the changes in your child’s behavior from 2 – 5 years.

Ukraine therapists and social workers will still work with parents and their young children. Of course, you are under a lot of pressure. DAIMH Netherlands and other organizations are inviting Dutch professionals who are willing and able to support Ukraine therapists and care providers. You may need a A listening ear, intervision and/or supervision, enduring all the stress and hectic they experience

Make your interest in being linked known to: vroeg@dgcommunicatie.nl  

A carrier or wrap can be so much of help: it provides practical help. You have your arms free for siblings, luggage (when receiving supplies for example) or use it as a curtain. It provides emotional comfort as well: it keeps warm, soothes and brings up your oxytocin levels. Read here: How to utilize wraps and carriers in case of a disaster. You can even wear a child in a towel, a shirt or sweatpants.

Here’s the place to find information about next level babywearing.

Feeling helpless, don’t know what to do? There are a lot of charities specifically aimed at baby’s, toddlers and pregnant mums, summarized in a list underneath: 

• Conflict in Ukraine poses immediate threat to children | UNICEF
• War Child
• Inzamelactie draagzakken voor vluchtelingen
• Doneer je drager voor Oekraïne – Dragen & Zo

This free manual provides school administrators, teachers, staff and concerned parents with basic information about working with traumatized children in the school system. In the Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators is a special section for preschool children.

This free manual provides school administrators, teachers, staff and concerned parents with basic information about working with traumatized children in the school system. In the Child Trauma Toolkit for Educators is a special section for preschool children.

This Infographic highlights the benefits of breastfeeding, why it’s important to continue doing so during a disaster, barriers to breastfeeding during disasters and how first responders can help. With some help breastfeeding can be started again. Bottle feeding often needs additional steps in order to perform it safely, which are harder to come by in times of war. Nonetheless, if your baby is bottle fed, you can prepare for the best outcome with this information for bottle feeding.

The 1-2-3 Care Toolkit is intended to support caregivers on their journey towards trauma sensitivity. It is organized by topic, each offering a brief overview, specific tools that can be used with children, and where to find more information. Also included are handouts that can be used as teaching aids.

War is destabilizing. It takes a child out of his day to day rhythms and brings uncertainty, fear and possible relocation. A part of dealing with traumatic experiences is sensemaking, understanding what happened to you and that some things were out of your control. Children need this too. You can help children make sense of what is happening and what war entails. A good method is through story. Stories help children understand reality through analogy. Besides, it is well documented that reading to your children also helps them in their development. Here you can find a link to some powerful books related to war and meant for children.

If reading to your children is not your strong suit, or if you are not able to because of other reasons, there are stories and books pre-recorded that you could let children listen to. For example:

1. On war, soldier life and saying goodbye: Finding Winnie : The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattick
2. About feeling welcome in a new environment: Frog and the stranger – Frog and Friends
3. About recovery and reconnecting with father (after the second world war): Ruby in the Ruins by Shirley Hughes – Kids Book About War Read Aloud | Educational videos for kids
4. On understanding the life of a soldier: Alan Pollock reads the Bear who Went to War
5. On losing someone temporarily: Lost and Found By Oliver Jeffers I Read Aloud
6. On losing temporarily and different ways of dealing: Owl Babies   Picture Book Animation
7. On death: Frog and the birdsong – Frog and Friends
8. On saying goodbyes: Dear Grandma Bunny  by Dick Bruna
9. Picturebook Healing from Trauma after war is offered for free
10. To explain your little one about disasters: How to talk to kids about disasters
11. About making a prevention plan: The Earthquake Plan for the family
12. About becoming homeless: Homeless by Mike Boyce
13. A story about being homeless and living in a Shelter: A Place to Stay: A Shelter Story by Erin Gunti Read Aloud Comment end