Babies and young children

We don’t often talk about the mental health of babies, but both their mental and physical health are shaped by the health of their birth parent and community, their caretakers, and everything in the environment they are born into.

We can support infant mental health by supporting their parents, families, and communities in welcoming and caring for a new baby. Making sure that families have sufficient food, shelter, safety, time together, and protection from the stresses of not having those things is very important.

Why is there so much focus on children under 5? While learning happens throughout life, early learning lays the foundation for individual mental health. We learn most when the brain is developing most quickly—during the first 1,000 days of life, a child’s brain is twice as active as that of an adult. That’s why young children learn more than one language just by hearing them spoken. During this time, babies and very young children learn how to calm themselves, interact with others, and relate to the world in ways that will last their whole life.

As anyone who has tried parenting knows, it is almost impossible for one or two people to take care of a baby by themselves. In reality, it truly “takes a village.” When parents do not get enough support, they can feel they are failures and blame themselves. On the other hand, getting good support improves the mental health and broadens the life possibilities for both the baby and the parents.

All babies need love, care, and attention to survive and thrive. Help parents have the time, energy, health, and emotional support they need to provide that to the baby. People, programs, and policies that help families with food preparation, finances, time off work, care for older children, and responding to health concerns all contribute to making the baby’s world healthy.

Give parents the time and energy to be with their baby. When parents get help with meals and looking after other children, the new baby gets more attention. When workplaces and laws guarantee paid time off for new parents—including partners and adoptive parents—time for bonding with a new baby is increased.

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Sing or talk to a baby while you care for her. Respond to the baby’s noises and talk about what you are doing. Babies like to copy sounds they hear.

Give babies focused attention. Newborns turn to the sound of familiar voices and respond to smiles and facial expressions. Each baby has different feeding, sleeping, and other habits. Spending time together lets babies teach their caregivers what works best for them.

Born to play. Play brings joy and comfort, builds relationships, and is a key part of learning. Watching a young child play and learn is watching growth happen. When they can safely explore the world and interact with others, play is a child’s most accessible and powerful way to learn.

Smart spaces

Two moms created Joyful Parenting SF to make San Francisco, California, more kid-friendly. They urge restaurants and other businesses to add children’s play areas and diaper-changing tables so parents can meet other parents. Regular meet-ups for young families keep people with newborns from feeling isolated, allow young children to meet other kids, and draw people to local family-friendly businesses.

KABOOM! is a national non-profit focused on creating playspaces in areas where they are scarce and ensuring the playspaces allow families and communities of color to feel safe, welcome, included, and comfortable. Their website shares their Playbook, a guide for institutions and community organizations to advocate for and create spaces like small play areas in laundromats and kid-friendly spaces in waiting areas where families seek social services.

A question when planning any community meeting or activity should be: How will we make this work for new parents? Will the event be fun for young children? What childcare can be provided? How will we make it clear that their participation is valued?

Tune in to what children experience

Parents and other caretakers can learn to recognize and respond to their child’s emotional state. This helps babies and young children manage their emotions. Without caring attention, children may find their feelings overwhelming and frightening, which can lead to behaviors that are distressing for themselves and others.

If you notice your child’s behavior creating problems or your child is suddenly acting younger—such as having frequent accidents despite having previously learned how to use the toilet or no longer using words despite having previously been talking—talk to health workers or others experienced with child development to sort out how to help the child. Teachers who notice a child becoming withdrawn or not wanting to play can ask if the family has noticed changes too.

When a family is in a stressful situation and parents are unable to focus on or respond to what a child is experiencing, other adults can step forward to help. This can make a big difference in how the child will remember the experience afterwards.

That was scary—so much noise! Right now, your mom is helping the person who got hurt but soon she’ll be able to talk with you and take you home. We can watch her together from here until then, OK?

Separation

Separation from caregivers can be stressful but also promote growth for a young child.

Routine separations build confidence. Though separating from a parent when a child goes to childcare might cause stress in the moment, the positive interactions with other children and adults will help the child learn that change can be fun and rewarding.

Where is Uncle?

Are you worried about him? He is sick. I will see how he is tomorrow, and tell him you miss him and hope to see him soon.

Reassure a child in a hopeful but honest way.

Unexpected separations cause distress. When a parent goes away suddenly or for a longer period of time than usual, the separation can cause distress even if the child is well cared for and the parent returns safely. By maintaining routines and reassuring them that everything is OK, you help the child recover a sense of ease.

Traumatic separations require support. Forcible separations, such as the death of a close family member, separation of immigrant children and parents, incarceration of a parent, and child welfare removal of children from their homes can be traumatic and have long-lasting harmful effects on babies and children. As a society, we urgently need effective ways to prevent traumatic separations and to provide support and healing for children who experience them. That support must include age-appropriate ways to help children talk about separation, loss, and other serious worries.

How to use puppets or dolls to help children communicate

If a child cannot talk directly about what he is feeling, he may be able to express it by drawing or play-acting. Because pretending can help children share feelings and ideas that are otherwise too difficult for them to communicate, “play” can sometimes be very serious. Use stuffed animals, dolls, or puppets to help a child learn about and express feelings.

What if the mama goes away?

Now the children fight because there is no mama to stop them.

Puppets and drawings can help young children find words to describe and understand feelings. For example, ask the child to draw the face of a person who is sad, a person who is happy, a person who is angry, and a person who is afraid. Talk about these faces with the child. How do you know a person is happy? How does a sad person act? What does an angry person do? When do people have these feelings?

Make paper puppets with scissors, sticks, glue or tape, and pens or crayons. Or make puppets with scraps of cloth. Ask your child to name them and make up a story about them. Ask: What did they do then? How did they feel about it? Having learned more about what the child is feeling and experiencing, create a path through the strong feelings toward a resolution. For example, you can help the child wrap up the “story” in a way that leaves the characters calm or helping each other.

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This page was updated:18 Apr 2025

Hesperian Health Guides

Babies and young children

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