Articles

Anthropological and archaeological evidence shows parents around the world have been wearing their babies for thousands of years. Our ancestors developed cradle boards, slings, pouches and wraps to keep young children safe and close, while keeping parents’ hands free, maintaining mobility and reducing the effort required to carry a child. These are still great perks […]

A Guide for Resource Parents and Kinship Caregivers

Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) is a growing subspecialty area in the behavioral and mental health fields. IECMH includes the ages of birth through 5 years old and can be inclusive of the prenatal period, commonly known as perinatal mental health. The 2001 ZERO TO THREE Infant Mental Health Task Force Steering Committee […]

The womb is designed to nurture, grow, protect and prepare a baby for survival. The moment a baby is born, the brain seeks connection and safety to ensure this survival. Amazingly, through all of the senses the baby immediately becomes familiar with and learns to recognize primary caregivers from whom the baby is biologically prepared […]

Babies are raised in all different kinds of families. Roles and responsibilities may be allocated, assigned, claimed or agreed upon by family members as a result of the family’s culture, values and beliefs. While it is common for parents to provide primary care, other caregivers such as grandparents, older siblings, aunts, uncles, foster parents and […]

While waiting for our children to arrive, most of us have entertained the fantasy that our new babies or toddlers will greet us with open arms, ready to love and be loved. Reality is more complex, of course. But the more attuned we are to the needs and cues of our newly arrived babies and […]