Babies that fail to receive stimulation and
love in the first year are at risk of poor brain development and
social skills, a child health expert has warned.
Dr Cheryl Power, a clinical psychologist at
Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust told delegates at the
Royal College of Psychiatrists annual meeting in Liverpool that
health professionals too often focus on the problems of mothers
with mental health difficulties, which may make the infant
‘invisible’.
However, Dr Power - who is also North West
Perinatal and Infant Mental Health Service Improvement Lead -
warned this isolated approach can have a detrimental effect on
babies’ health and urged health workers including adult and child
mental health professionals, midwives, health visitors, GPs, and
social workers to focus on the whole mother-baby relationship and
whole family.
She said: “A foetus will have approximately
100 billion neurons in their brain, however these neurons are
meaningless until after birth when the environment they are exposed
to will influence their brain development.
“The infant needs to be exposed to stimulation
and social interaction to enable their brains to develop. Mothers
with mental health difficulties are compromised in how they are
able to provide stimulation and how they are able to interact with
infants. That will influence how a baby’s brain develops, the
relationship between mother and baby and have a negative
cycle.”
Dr Julia Nelki, child psychiatrist at Alder
Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust agreed: “Being able to
parent successfully is central both to the recovery of the parent
and the development of the infant. Adult mental health services may
focus on adult mental health needs rather than the parenting
needs.
“You need to think about the parenting role as
much as their personal needs. If the mother can be successful in
the social role of being a parent they are more likely to recover
from their mental health difficulties and that’s going to have a
major impact on the development of the infant.”
Common clinical cases include:
- An anxious mum who may be more likely to
respond too much to the baby because she has excess worries. The
infant may experience anger and turn away to limit this
over-involvement.
- A depressed mum who may be disengaged with
the baby so they don’t respond to the cues of the infant. The baby
might give up, become passive and withdraw from the interaction
with mum. A vicious cycle then occurs where the mum may feel no
good and rejected, which will exacerbate her anxiety and low
mood.
To address the problem Child and Adolescent
Mental Health Services (CAMHS) therapists working for Alderhey
Children’s NHS Foundation Trust have set up a new community based
intervention for refugee mothers and babies.
The initiative, in collaboration with
voluntary agency Home Start, is expected to start in September. It
will provide support for mother and baby via a structured programme
which includes mummy talk and baby talk time and food, home visits
by volunteers, letters, stories, massages and videos.
The programme will focus on the relationship
between the mother and baby and will be community-based with
volunteers. There will also be active participation and use of
feedback.
According to Dr Nelki, who is behind the
initiative, the important factor is that every agency is working
together to focus on the mother-baby relationship.
“The steering group comprises a health
visitor, midwife, voluntary agency, Community mental health team,
CAMHS, home-start, perinatal coordinator, university, commissioner
and service user,” she said.
Dr Power added: “Most mental health services
are dealing with either children or adults. This needs to be
thought about at all levels. Not just service providers but people
commissioning services, they have to think about doing it
jointly.”
“We need to be moving towards thinking and
working together at all levels, whether that be providing services
or commissioning. It’s essentially about keeping the whole family
in mind, not just about addressing difficulty within the mother. We
know there are longer term implications for the developing child if
maternal mental health is not addressed.”
For further information, please
contact:
Liz Leicester
or Deborah Hart in the Communications
Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127
References:
Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, BT Convention Centre, Liverpool, 2 -5 June 2009