Infant Mental Health Toolkit
Why Infant Mental Health Matters
The first relationships your baby develops will become the blueprint for how she feels about herself, and the way she assesses future relationships.
- Secure attachment bonds are vital for your child to have good mental health
- Secure attachment builds trust between you and your child
- Ongoing stress in babies can cause mental health issues (anxiety, fear, insecurity)
Social and Emotional Development
Babies and young children need more than just physical care.
How can you support your baby’s infant’s mental health?
- What does it look like when you nurture your baby socially and emotionally?
- A baby’s mental health is reflected through their behavior
- Newborns have social and emotional needs from their primary caregivers
- Relationship building is a vital part of building your child’s social skills.
- Connect with your baby in everyday interactions
- Showing affection and cuddling is linked to her long-term happiness and success.
- Babies learn friendship skills from the relationship they have with their parents
- Teaching Empathy starts early
Emotional development starts unfolding at birth!
- This podcast summarizes your role in building your baby’s social and emotional skills
- Infant Emotional Development Stages and Tips refers to needs in the first year of life
- Enhance emotional development in the first year
- Manage the terrible twos while you support your child’s newfound independence
- Check out tips on how to help your kid calm down and techniques for self-control in preschool-aged children
What if you are frequently seeing some negative behaviors?
- Separation anxiety and difficulty in transitions are part of normal development.
- Rather than saying “stop crying”, provide support and empathy.
- Know the difference between aggression and anxiety because they can look the same!
- Feeling overwhelmed is normal- use these tips to manage stressful situations.
It is every parent’s wish to raise a positive and successful human being. It is important to not just focus on modifying a child’s negative behavior but also to keep your eye on the bigger picture. Refer to 10 Habits to Shape a Kind, Well Adjusted Child for more information.
Cognitive Development
Your primary goal as a parent is to see your children learn, grow, and excel.
- Strengthen your child’s cognitive development simply through play
- Be your baby’s first playmate
- Learn about how brains develop through the first three years of life
- Look out for developmental warning signs in young babies
- Check out this article for more information on developmental delays
Communication, or how your baby exchanges ideas and feelings through verbal and non-verbal ways, is another component of cognitive development in addition to exploration and play.
- Your child’s communication skills grow dramatically during the first years of life
- Provide support in communication every step of the way.
- Learn about how a baby’s physical ability related to reading readiness
- What does it mean to read the right books at the right time?
- Bilingual? Dual Language Development: Double the Benefit explains the merits
Maternal Postpartum Depression and Anxiety
Having a baby brings about a great deal of change.
- 10-20% of mothers experience postpartum depression (PPD) and/or anxiety.
- Postpartum Depression Explained provides symptoms, causes, myths and facts.
- Learn about 8 warning signs of PPD.
- The Symptoms of Postpartum Depression (in Plain Mama English)
- For more information, refer to the “Do I have PPD?” checklist
- Learn about Postpartum Depression in Men and some of the signs, causes, & treatments
Self Care & Parental Relationships
You don't need to be a perfect parent.
- It is important to know that there is no such thing as being the perfect parent–your child only needs you to be a good enough parent.
- What it means to be a good enough parent
- Unresolved feelings from past experiences impact your beliefs and attitudes about parenthood
- Your past experiences unconsciously manifest in how you parent your child.
- Self-care should be part of your routine
- Ways to include self-care in your life
- The One Conversation that New Parents Need to Stay Connected is a resource for couples!
- What Kids Learn from your Marriage is based on how you interact with your spouse!
Additional Resources
Click here for more.
Center for Disease Control
The CDC provides access to materials like positive parenting tips, free educational materials, children’s mental health resources, and more.
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/index.html
Zero to Three
Zero to Three works to ensure that babies and toddlers benefit from the connections that are critical to their health, well being, and development. They do this by transforming the science of early childhood into helpful resources, practical tools and responsive policies for millions of parents, professionals and policymakers.
https://www.zerotothree.org/
Ages & Stages Questionnaire
Ages to Stages provides accurate, reliable, developmental and social-emotional screening for children between birth and 6 years of age.
https://agesandstages.com/
Pathways
Provides resources for tracking milestones in their child’s development, including the motor skills, senses, communication and more. Their sensory toolkit includes materials that help with earlier identification and therapy for children’s sensory issues, which can help children reach their fullest potential.
https://pathways.org/
Postpartum Support International (PSI)
Provides PSI Support Coordinators and area resources such as free telephone support, groups, reliable services, local events, trainings, and more.
http://www.postpartum.net/
Brazelton presentation – 4th trimester
Dr. T. Berry Brazelton discusses newborns and the impact their environment has on their behavior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZisX_F6HAfE
More from The FYI
The FYI's Therapy Guide
This guide will help you answer questions about therapy, how to search for a therapist and what to expect from therapy.
The Power of a Positive Home
Improve your family’s mental health and wellbeing with these strategies
Does marital conflict mean divorce?
What steps can you take if you’re not sure how to move forward in your relationship?
This toolkit was authored by Saara Patel, LLMSW & Infant Mental Health Specialist, Bessma Haider, BA, and Nushrat Rahman, BA with support from Madiha Tahseen, PhD, Carol Oleksiak, LMSW, IMH-E®, Sameera Ahmed, PhD, and Sarrah AbuLughod, MA.
Feedback
Your feedback is incredibly valuable to us. It helps us refine and improve our efforts to better serve you. Whether it’s positive comments that motivate us or constructive criticism that guides our enhancements, your insights are an essential part of our journey. We genuinely appreciate your time and input as we work to provide the best possible experience. Thank you for being a part of our process!