Mental health articles

Maturational challenges to self-regulation Situations where maturation affects self-regulation with possible effects on sleep include an infant frustrated by a desire to walk who may want to practise walking in bed, pull himself up to standing in the cot and then be unable to get back down. At this point the infant is wide awake […]

With a premature birth or a medical problem identified at birth, the baby becomes the focus of medical attention in an alien situation and the mother is often left in the labour ward as the partner accompanies the baby to the nursery. This means that the parents are very vulnerable from the beginning. Ideally, the […]

EFFECTS ON PARENTS AND SIBLINGS A sense of control in the care of the infant seems to be crucial for the development of the infant–parent relationship. Parents of a sick infant are trying to develop a relationship with their infant in an artificial situation, sharing the care of their baby with strangers. It has been […]

EFFECTS OF FREQUENT HOSPITALISATION Frequent hospitalisations create stress on the infant–parent relationship in a number of ways, independently of the condition of the child. Whatever the condition, the infant is unable to function at the expected level of maturity until a measure of physiological stability is obtained. The infant who is hospitalised is likely to […]