IMHAW: Understanding a Baby’s Needs

An article written by Louise, Health Visitor, ISPHN Service, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust for Infant Mental Health Awareness Week.

The UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative (BFI) ‘enables public services to better support families with feeding and developing close and loving relationships so that all babies get the best possible start in life’.

In their publication, ‘Building a Happy Baby – a guide for parents’, the organisation discusses the importance of developing close and loving relationships and its crucial contribution to supporting brain development, promoting strong attachments with care givers and in supporting good mental health in infancy and beyond.

Further, the UNICEF BFI understand that, during pregnancy, babies’ brains are growing and developing quickly. Parents and close family members can help promote baby’s neurological development and growth by taking time out to relax, talk, sing, play music and stroke their ‘bump’.

After birth, mothers are encouraged to place baby skin to skin for as long as they wish. Fathers and partners can benefit from skin to skin too, but this should come later. Skin to skin, offers time for rest, calms both mother and baby and gives the opportunity to get to know each other. Additional benefits include keeping warm and regulating body temperature and heartbeat. In turn, the mother may feel a sense of calm and make it easier for her to relax.

If the mother chooses to breastfeed, this helps get feeding off to a good start. Mother and and baby will release a hormone called oxytocin, which is often referred to as ‘the hormone of love’, this helps them feel close and connected.  If parents chose to bottle feed it is also important to keep baby close, skin to skin, look into their eyes, and respond to their cues. It is important that bottle feeding is limited to parents in the early days as this helps with developing a close and loving bond.

Having a new baby can be challenging, but as time goes by parents will begin to understand their baby’s needs. Responding to baby’s needs for food and comfort will not only promote brain development but help them feel calm and secure. It will make them cry less, which helps parents feel calmer. Babies can never be spoilt by being given too much attention, as we know that when babies needs for love and comfort are met, they will cry less, be calmer and grow up to be more confident children and adults.

Research shows that babies who are responded to in this way grow into confident toddlers who are better able to deal with being away from their parents temporarily and are in fact less ‘clingy’. When babies are left alone, they feel abandoned and so become clingier and more insecure when parents return.

New babies have a strong need to be close to their parents. Keeping them close and responding to their cues in a responsive way is important from the outset, it promotes bonding and helps them feel secure and loved. This, in turn, releases the hormone called oxytocin, that acts like a fertiliser for their growing brains.

Parents should be encouraged to be responsive, hold, smile, and talk to their babies as this reciprocal feedback will release oxytocin, helping with a feeling of well-being, ultimately supporting good mental health.

The Breastfeeding Network have recently produced some information for their users in preparation for Infant Mental Health Awareness Week. Here they explore the relationship between infant feeding choice and maternal mental health.

The relationship is complicated and often multifactorial, and scientists are trying to understand the correlation between the two. This is because of several factors and may be dependent on pre-natal mental health and birth experience. We know these factors can result in trauma and stress and can impact on infant feeding choice. Moreover, maternal mental health can be affected by the mother’s experiences and feeling of guilt or pressure regarding her infant feeding choice. The evidence is compelling and tends to suggest that not breastfeeding increases the risk of maternal depression, especially if they intended or wanted to breastfeed.

One study highlighted that those who didn’t plan to breastfeed and who gave formula milk were significantly more likely to become depressed, when compared to those who exclusively breastfed for at least four weeks. Those who planned to breastfeed yet were unable to do so were also at increased risk (Borra et al 2014). This all points to the importance of women receiving good support from the outset if wishing to breastfeed.

Scientists are tying to understand the relationship between breastfeeding and maternal mental health. Some think that breastfeeding supports hormonal surges of both oxytocin and prolactin which encourage a woman to feel more relaxed, reducing anxiety.

It is important that we continue to research and help spread awareness of these topics, during Infant Mental Health Awareness Week and beyond, to support new families to make choices that work for them and support them and their babies’ mental health long-term.

Sources and useful links

• UNICEF unicef.org.uk
• Happy Baby - a guide for parents https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/baby-friendly-resources/relationship-building-resources/building-a-happy-baby/
• Borra, C., Iakovou, M. & Sevilla, A. (2014) New Evidence on Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression: The Importance of Understanding Women’s Intentions. Matern Child Health J 19, 897–907 (2015). New Evidence on Breastfeeding and Postpartum Depression: The Importance of Understanding Women’s Intentions | Maternal and Child Health Journal (springer.com)
• Breastfeeding Network breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/breastfeeding-and-maternal-mental-health