Feeling Blue
Babies are as vulnerable to depression and anxiety as adults are - if not more so. For so many years, this possibilityhas been overlooked - partly because babies can't talk, and tell us what they feel; and partly because behaviours such as crying and clinginess are taken for granted as 'normal' in so manyfamilies.
Recognised studies are now backing up the fact that babies are acutely emotional; that they may be more upset than we give them credit for; and their feelings deserve to be taken seriously. If not, there can be life-long consequences - something we have been saying at Babiesknow for years, and the recent study from the non-profit organisation Zero to Three (http://www.zerotothree.org/) is showing.
Babiesknow has been speaking up for babies' sensitivity, sometimes in the face of doubt from people who believe that tears, tantrums, shyness and withdrawal are nothing to worry about. It's a relief to find out that studies are now helping to speak up for babies - as well as an alarm call for us all, to wake up to the fact that babies need to be listened to, and their feelings accepted and responded to.
To Read More
Download the TIME article to read as a pdf, by clicking on the icon below
Or follow this link to the TIME website: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2058206,00.html.
 Small Child, Big Worries -- Printout -- TIME.pdf | Depression in children; new findings revealing the true message that could lie behind all those tears. |