Hi everyone and welcome my name is ILO and I'm a registered Midwife and childbirth education instructor I have two lovely children and I practice Midwifery in a large Urban setting in Canada I really enjoy educating new families throughout the perinatal period their births and into the postpartum in this video we'll cover your support network when it comes to perinatal mental health and we'll touch on infant mental health as well so let's get started let's begin with your support network what does that look like depending on the severity of your mental health symptoms you may opt for self-help so that would involve coping strategies activities interventions that you take on yourself you may consider adding therapy or medication to this who are your supports at a very starting point your Midwife your family doctor your OB G or the hospital where you gave birth to your baby would be the first place to check they can direct you to more Specialized Care and send you down the road if you need those treatments postpartum support International is a fantastic website it's really geared toward Awards not just moms but are partners and support people as well there are workshops and groups and all sorts of useful information another option would be reaching out to your local public health nurse they can really direct you to local resources in your own communities what groups are running where to start and just act as a sounding board even to discuss how you've been feeling and where to go next we also have our parent peratal Mental Health Specialists this would be a psychologist or a social worker or a perinatal mental health nurse specialist or maybe even a cognitive behavioral therapist a quick note on social media social media is a fantastic tool and you can learn new tips and tricks as you transition to Parenthood things like baby wearing or weaning baby onto solids from other parents keep in mind that you may also be seeing a highlighted or edited version of someone's life that may not necessarily reflect reality so if logging on to social media leaves you feeling depleted inadequate and like you're not measuring up maybe take a break let's dive into infant mental health your baby's mental health encompasses their emotional and social well-being it de develops through their interactions with you and those around them babies need to feel safe and it's the safety that helps them form relationships with family members with you with your partner and helps them experience and express feelings with these relationships if there's positive back and forth engagement and reassurance they feel confident they feel safe and they can explore their EnV environment and begin to explore outwards our goal is to create healthy relationships and we do this by listening to our babies being attentive to our babies and meeting their needs an example would be if baby is crying a baby can cry for lots of different reasons they're hungry they have a dirty diaper they're gassy they're a little overstimulated attending to your baby picking up baby holding them close cuddling them soothing them giving them that human touch really helps to calm their nervous system and calming their nervous system supports good positive mental health and helps them to feel safe let's talk about infant brain development the first three years of life are the most important for your baby's brain development I don't want you to be scared that you're not going to do it just right that's not how it works our brains are very neuroplastic they can be retrained they can grow they can change they can develop and that happens all the way into our 80s the best way to start is with a good foundation our brains are just developing at this stage and interacting with our babies gives them an opportunity to develop those connections nerves are firing back and forth new pathways are being set down and having one-on-one time with baby playing games peekaboo sticking your tongue out maybe singing a song with them can help with that back and forth social relationship use everyday activities like bath time or tummy time to really engage with your babies and help them form those meaningful relationships other GR great ways to interact with your baby would be eye contact smiling with them laughing with them describing your day holding them close cuddling them snuggling them comforting and soothing them when they need it narrating what you're doing singing the same song over and over again really just bring them into your world an interesting fact at this stage is that babies can see about 25 cm away from their faces so really get down and close face to face with baby exaggerate those facial expressions and they really love to hear our voices remember baby recognizes your voice from their time in Udo let's discuss your baby's emotional development respond to your baby's cries this helps them feel secure and valued and safe it also sets a foundation and helps them later in life when babies communicate with us they're not using spoken language just yet but they are using a different kind of language if we're attentive to our babies and we're watching those physical cues the senses that they're using to communicate with us we can learn to interpret their very unique needs so that could be smiling cing crying giggling movements babbling or gurgling any of those physical emotional responses and you'll get to know your baby best of all you'll be the expert in your baby's communication here are some common ways that babies communicate because babies can't tell us what they're thinking or feeling and they certainly don't come with an instruction manual we have to observe them to understand what they're trying to tell us if a baby is scrunching up their face and crying and has tight little fists straining to pass a bowel movement kicking their little legs and a higher pitched cry it could be some gas in their tummy a baby that is crying as you bring your face close to them turns away keeps crying turns away again might be over stimulated at ated so watching The Crying their facial expressions and their body movements can help us decipher their cries and we really get to know our babies as we engage with them as you become better at deciphering your baby's needs you'll soon notice a second type of communication you'll say something or do something and your baby will respond this is called the serve and return and it's the found ation of social engagement and relationships so you serve something and your baby returns back to you what you just served this really helps babies feel secure and loved you're paying attention to them and it sets the foundation for relationships not just now but also into the future with other family members friends teachers even Partners when we're serving an returning babies are learning how to engage and read the tone and sound of our voice it really does start from the beginning here's an example of serve and return let's say you pass your baby a toy and they respond by smiling you serve the toy and they returned a smile then you serve Again by saying you love this toy don't you it's so fun and they turn by giggling and cing or making cute little noises this interaction this back and forth makes them feel important and valued and loved it helps build healthy brains and Lees the foundation for Meaningful and healthy relationships in the future I really hope you enjoyed this video and please be sure to check out the rest of our videos in the series take care and we'll see you again soon