Thinking beyond physical health to include mental health and emotional well-being offers the pediatric clinician different approaches to old challenges and a new lens through which to view infant and parent behavior. Because pediatric primary care is accessible, universally available, has no entrance criteria, and is nonstigmatizing, clinicians…

Families with young children attend well-child visits in pediatric primary care settings frequently during the first 3 years of life and receive information and answers to questions about their young child's health and development. Integrating an infant-early childhood mental health and child development specialist into a pediatric primary care…

After birth, newborns and their caregivers are seen routinely and frequently in pediatric primary care settings. The close succession of visits in the first few months of life puts pediatric primary care professionals in a unique position to enhance infant mental health by developing strong relationships with caregivers, supporting babies and…

Infants develop self-regulatory abilities with the responsive and nurturing care of consistent adults. Children who lack individualized, consistent care suffer emotional and physical harm. The authors of this article describe how infants in congregate care (a NICU and an orphanage) experience inconsistency and how administrators and …

The birth and hospitalization of a preterm infant have powerful effects on the emerging parent-infant relationship. Characteristics of parents, infant factors, and factors in the hospital and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) environments--in addition to the circumstances surrounding preterm birth--may disrupt parent-infant relationships.…