What About the Baby?

We are all born with the capacity to develop trusting and safe relationships.

MI-AIMH hopes that all infants, toddlers and young children have optimal infant and early childhood mental health and secure attachment relationships, in other words, optimal social emotional development.  Brain science confirms that the sooner support can be provided to ensure that very young children are being attended to in ways that promote their social emotional development and relational health, the better for them, their families and all of us!  If a baby is attended to with warm, responsive and consistent care, that baby will be a healthier toddler and preschooler who later enters school and adulthood with a better chance at success.  This is why we ask, “What About the Baby?”

We often find ourselves sitting at tables with colleagues or other providers who may not realize that a child’s mental health begins to develop in infancy.

Here is information that you can equip yourself with so that you can answer, “What about the Baby?”

icons_baby_forParentsThe birth of a baby offers the hopefulness of a new relationship and the promise for growth and change.

Babies’ brains grow rapidly during the first years of life and each positive experience plays a role in shaping the brain and causing hundreds of new brain connections that become a platform for future learning.  

icons_store_socialBabies have something to say…it is up to the adults in their world to learn their language and respond to their needs.

icons_store_otherBabies remember their earliest relationship experiences. These experiences become the prototypes for future relationships, influencing their trust of themselves, others, and the world.

icons_store_reflectivesuperBabies are active partners in each relationship. They bring their own personalities, unique strengths, and vulnerabilities to the relationship.

icons_for_pros_handBabies need to be attended to, even when parents are overburdened.

icons_store_chilewelfareThe baby is a window into the soul – into the past and present experiences that may haunt parents, and into the awakening sense of joy and promise in a new life.

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