Experts Say Promoting Positive Mental Health in Infants and Toddlers Can Help Children Feel More Connected Later in Life

Friday, February 23rd, 2024 -- 12:00 PM

(Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) A significant number of Wisconsin teens have reported struggling with anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide in recent years. 

According to Hope Kirwan with the Wisconsin Public Radio, experts say promoting positive mental health in infants and toddlers could help children feel more connected later in life.

About 80 percent of brain development happens in the first three years of life, when babies and toddlers are forming new brain connections through experiences and interactions with adults.

“When we think about infant mental health, we can think about a child’s capacity to form relationships, to experience a wide range of emotions and to learn,” said Lana Shkylar Nenide, executive director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Infant Mental Health.

Shkylar Nenide said this development happens through children’s relationships with their parents or other adults, laying the foundation for their social skills and emotional capacity as they age.

Linda Hall, director of the Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health, said this foundation becomes even more important when looking at the number of high school students struggling to make these connections.

This year’s report from the Office of Children’s Mental Health found 61 percent of students said they feel connected at school and 67 percent said they have a trusted adult at school. “They need to learn about trusting relationships before they get to school so they can be open to learning,” Hall said.

“That sets the foundation a little bit more, it gets them engaged in learning, and that progresses to feeling like they belong in their home and in their school.”

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