Infant mental health (IMH) is a multi-disciplinary field that has been around for over 40 years. However, there is still misunderstanding about what IMH is. This i-learn module is designed to introduce some core concepts related to IMH that are particularly relevant for day-to-day practice. It also aims to raise IMH awareness and to start developing skills to promote IMH and identify IMH problems when they arise.

At the end of this module you will be able to:

  • understand what bonding is and its role in pregnancy
  • describe maternal fetal representations in pregnancy
  • describe the role of reflective functioning in pregnancy
  • describe how trans-generational trauma can be transmitted to the infant
  • understand that infants are born with an innate temperament
  • describe the way in which experiences can shape the developing brain’s architecture
  • describe the different types of stress infants are exposed to
  • explain the role of attachment in protecting the infant’s biological system from stress
  • identify the different types of attachment status
  • describe how trans-generational attachment status can be transmitted to the infant

This course contains three very short videos and two of 5-6 minutes.

    Study time: 30 minutes

    Original content: June 2017