2 Educators providing Courses delivered Live Online

Our one-day workshop aims to provide healthcare professionals with evidence-based knowledge to develop their theoretical and practical understanding of the importance of early communication between parents and infants. We also consider how to support parents’ bond with their babies when suffering with poor mental health. We explore how early experiences impact the child/parent relationship and how this influences brain development and the trajectory of infant mental health. We examine different types of crying and recognise the emotional impact this has on both the baby and carer and how participants can support parents in reading their baby’s behaviour and regulating their states. The workshop will also look at babies’ rapidly evolving sleep patterns and sleep cues and how staff can offer anticipatory advice to parents to encourage early good sleep habits. Workshop Aims To provide community staff with up-to-date evidence-based knowledge to develop an understanding of infant mental health, brain development and the importance of how early experiences impact on child/adult relationships. For professionals to develop an understanding of what babies are trying to say; to enable them to support parents in gaining confidence with tuning into and regulating their babies. To understand the evolving sleep patterns of babies up to a year old and how parents can support their baby to encourage early good sleep habits. Learning Outcomes By the end of this workshop participants will be able to: Understand how early relationships can influence the development of the infants’ brain and mental health. Explore crying babies and its impact on the baby and their carer. Understand the subtle cues of babies from birth onwards. Offer parents anticipatory advice to encourage early good sleep habits. Enable parents to respond to their baby’s cues in a sensitive, timely manner so the baby feels safe secure and loved; this is particularly important for parents who are struggling to bond with their baby, possibly as a result of postnatal depression or having experienced adverse childhood experiences themselves.