Infant Mental Health Awareness Week

Infant Mental Health Awareness Week

Yesterday, Monday 6 June 2016, the charity Parent Infant Partnership (PIP) UK launched the UK’s first Infant Mental Health Awareness week, and a new campaign ‘Building Babies Minds’ which seeks to highlight the importance of laying the foundation of the mind for good mental health in infancy.  At APP, we understand the importance of mothers and babies getting a good start in life and we welcome this campaign to raise awareness. 

When a severe mental illness strikes, it can cause that start to be rocky and, in some cases, may impact upon early bonding. It is crucial that mothers have access to first rate care in specialist Mother and Baby Units, where they can be supported when they are very ill, and can develop parenting confidence as they recover.

Around half of mothers with Postpartum Psychosis (PP) in the UK do not have access to this specialist support. We know that separation during treatment for PP causes trauma to the mother and impacts upon mothering confidence, but more research is needed to determine what the long term impacts of this might be on the developing mother baby relationship. We know from the experience of talking to many women and families that, with the right treatment and support, full recovery from PP is possible and that most go on to be loving mothers with an incredibly strong bond with their children. 

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