Infant Mental Health Awareness Week
What can be more important than a healthy, happy baby?
During the past year we have seen the devastating effect of the pandemic on the health of our nation - not just our physical health but also our mental health.
We have all been affected by the lockdown but the impact on our youngest has been profound. It has been an extraordinarily difficult time for new families, where through no fault of their own, they have been unable to normally access face to face support.
As we mark Infant Mental Health Week, our recovery must focus on what can be done to reverse this damage. The Early Years Healthy Development Review, which I chair, is focused on ensuring that every baby gets the best start for life. Launched in July 2020, its findings were announced by the Prime Minister in March this year, with a commitment to improving the provision of early years support at its heart.
As part of the ongoing roll out, I am today launching a new ‘1001 Critical Days’ podcast which will discuss the science as well as the experiences of the earliest years, and feature interviews with parents, professionals, politicians and academics on how we can improve the future wellbeing of our youngest.
During the period from conception to age two, often referred to as the 1001 critical days, babies are uniquely susceptible to their environment. They are completely reliant on their caregivers, and their development is heavily influenced by the quality of their earliest relationships. For those babies who do not experience loving care, there can be a lifelong impact on their physical and emotional wellbeing.
There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating that issues ranging from poor mental health to substance dependency and domestic abuse within families lead to significantly poorer outcomes for babies and young children. In particular, between 6 months and 18 months old, when a baby’s developing social and emotional brain is highly susceptible to his or her environment, attentive care is important.
Implementing the recommendations of the Early Years Healthy Development Review has at its core, a focus on the best outcome for every baby by providing parents and carers with joined up start for life support.
There are 6 action areas in the Review, including 3 that are focused on improving the ‘join up’ of services for families: first, encouraging local authorities to publish a clear Start for Life offer for every new parent and carer, including support for mental health; second, Family Hubs will be a place for families to access help, both virtually and physically; and third, digital, virtual and telephone offers will be designed around the needs of the family, including a digital version of the Red Book.
The other 3 action areas are designed to make the Start for Life system work better: improvements and cross-training in the early years workforce to better meet the needs of the family; proper measurement of how well Start for Life services are supporting babies and their carers; finally, and vitally, clear leadership within each local authority area and within Cabinet to ensure that the Start for Life is at the heart of all policy thinking.
Supporting families during the earliest years makes so much sense…….securely attached infants are much more likely to go on to become adults who cope well with life’s ups and downs, build strong relationships and are better equipped to raise their own children. This becomes a ‘virtuous’ cycle where instinctive good parenting is passed down from one generation to the next. Prevention is not only kinder but much cheaper than cure, and there is no doubt that the financial cost of dealing with the consequences of damaged infants are vast – from depression to self-harm and homelessness, from addictions to knife crime and long-term criminality - many of society’s greatest ills can be laid at the door of attachment problems stemming back to babyhood.
As we look to build back better, supporting the emotional development of the youngest should be at the heart of our recovery and the Prime Minister’s levelling up agenda. A long-term commitment to investment would have a truly transformational impact on the future wellbeing of our nation.