The first few months of a baby’s life can have a critical impact on lifelong mental health. During this sensitive period, neural pathways are developing that will shape cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional functioning. In fact, nearly 1 million neural connections are made each second! During the first 3 years of life, brain development exceeds any other period of development. Adverse experiences such as neglect and various forms of abuse can have negative effects on the mental health of infants/toddlers that could potentially extend into adulthood. Research shows that between 10 to 15% of young children experience mental health conditions such as anxiety and trauma-related sequelae. For young children living in poverty, approximately 22% present mental health concerns. What’s more, greater than 20% of US infants will have experienced at least one adverse childhood event.
Securely attached children with exposure to nurturing environments has a buffering effect on adverse childhood experiences. Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) is key to 8 promoting protective factors and mitigating risk factors. Considerations for the impact of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion on infants should begin in both the prenatal and perinatal period. The rate of poverty for black and brown children is nearly twice that of white families with black and brown children being 60% more likely to be removed from their home by child welfare despite similar rates of abuse and neglect across various races and ethnicities. Addressing implicit bias, inherent structural racism, and investment in community safety nets is critical.
You might be thinking “What can I do?”. Zero to Three has put together a toolkit to take collective action to let policymakers know the importance of promoting positive infant and early childhood mental health. The State of Babies Yearbook 2023opens in new window provides state-by-state information on child welfare and options to contact Congress and state policymakers. There are several areas for advocacy including ongoing support for Early Head Start (with only 11% of eligible families currently being reached) and Head Start programs, increased funding for childcare programs, coverage/increased coverage for prevention-based codes, and reimbursable treatment for infant and early childhood mental health. Data suggests that infants and young children developing during the COVID-19 pandemic have an increase in developmental delays, separation anxiety, and challenging behaviors. Even more reason to urge policymakers to support early childhood mental health initiatives.
Learn more about what is in the current budgetopens in new window to support young children and their families.
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