Infant Mental Health Week: Bonding before birth

Infant Mental Health is something that we are working to increase awareness of as it is a concept that still isn't widely understood. We have moved away from the idea that babies are passive and towards the understanding that babies are active participants in their environment whether that be the womb or the world. These experiences help shape their future. The Parent Infant Foundation's theme for this year’s Infant Mental Health Week is Bonding Before Birth, highlighting the importance of how what happens during pregnancy, can impact a baby’s future mental health and well-being.

Research shows that the experiences and relationships we have in the earliest years of our lives, including before birth, impact the development of our brains and our emotional well-being. Stress during pregnancy can have a negative impact on babies’ physical and mental health in the womb which can impact outcomes later on in childhood and adulthood.
Mothers, their partners, children and family members can bond with their baby whilst they are in the womb, which lays the foundations for a loving and attuned relationship once the baby is born. We recognise that pregnancy can be a period of vulnerability and some families may require extra support to develop the bond with their baby.

Bonding before birth is thought to help parents in their psychological preparation for the transition to parenthood and supports parents to:

• Increase positive feelings towards the baby
• Think of their baby as an ‘individual’ with thoughts and feelings of their own
• Begin to develop the capacity to think about things from their child’s point of view
• Think about how their baby is developing and how they are supporting this development
• Which helps them to develop love, compassion and affectionate feelings towards the baby

Healthy Little Minds will be running a series of events across Nottingham this week to promote awareness of bonding during pregnancy and beyond, as well as an opportunity to meet the team and find out more about our work. This includes a celebration event for those families past and present who are using or have used our services since launching in September 2022.

Families will be invited to share their views and ideas about Bonding Before Birth, which will be used to create an animation which is being developed by students from Nottingham Trent University. We can't wait to share this with you.