49 Infant Mental Health: Finding the Beautiful Moments

https://302.buzz/PM-WhatAreYourThoughts

We all picture the joyous new mother. Happy, put together and radiant. The reality is often very different. Many moms are relieved that their baby. A mother’s mental health has a direct impact on her baby and we as pediatric clinicians are in a perfect position to support her. Dr. Rena Menke, a clinical psychologist with 15 years of experience working with pregnant and postpartum mothers, walks us through a model of care that promotes parenting skills and supports infant mental health. Dr. Menke describes how we can help parents by finding “beautiful moments” between a caregiver and their baby.

[00:01] Dr. Rena Menke Shares Her Story With Us

• How Dr. Menke shares her journey to the infant mental health field
• What to expect in infant mental health according to Dr. Menke

[04:13] 3 Moments Between a Mother and Her Baby

• Why pediatricians need to consider mental health in treating patients
• Dr. Menke connects a mother’s mental health to that of her child 
• The reality about motherhood you need to realize 
• She talks about her program, “Early Relational Health”
• Is it exclusive for mothers?
• When is it best implemented?
• The 3 types of moments to watch out for between a mother and her baby

[14:20] Creating Beautiful Moments

• How to advise mothers in overcoming challenging moments with their babies
• Dr. Menke shares how to practice empathy with parents 
• What pediatricians can learn from the infant mental health field 
• Check out some resources on early relational health!
• Links below 
• Building a “partnership” with parents to create beautiful moments 

[24:28] Building Meaningful and Healthy Relationships 

• We talk about the things that pediatricians do best 
• What confidence brings to parents in terms of taking care of their children
• Simple exercise parents can do when talking about their kids 
• How meaningful and healthy relationships are built 

 [32:31] Closing Segment  

• Final takeaways:
• Infant mental health was pioneered by Selma Fraiberg, author of “The Magic Years”
• Perinatal mood and anxiety disorder prevalence is about 40%.
• Early relational health is an intervention developed by pediatrician, David Willis
• A primary care physician or provider may identify an infant-parent dyad that may need some support.
• Identifying the 3 key moments between the mother and her baby 
• We may need to take a breath and pause as we help guide through interactions that we are concerned about
• There's formal online training for interested clinicians to learn more about upstream prevention intervention
• Rena’s contact details below
• Child psychiatry access programs are available across the country. Links below
• For information on how to develop integrated behavioral health in your practice, please reach out to me in the show note links

Key Quotes:

“I think what's wonderful is we now know that there are so many different resources for moms and babies… ” - Dr. Rena Menke 

“When parents are feeling confident and able to care for their children, then they have more ability to choose what they're doing.” - Dr. Rena Menke 

Email renam@med.umich.edu to connect with Dr. Menke or check out http://med.umich.edu/ to know more about her work. 

Resources Mentioned:

• Pediatr