Child Development

Baroness Walmsley Excerpts

Thursday 11th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Walmsley]

My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester for introducing this important topic. Our people are our national capital, which is why I agree with the premise of the right revered Prelate’s speech that child development has a major effect on national well-being and, of course, the economy. If we were manufacturers, wanting to produce a high-quality product, we would not start our quality control when the gadget was finally put together or packaged. We would start at the very beginning and ensure that we have the best components we could get. In the same way, a child starts its development in the womb and that is why we need to pay attention to its development right from nine months or so before birth. Well-being starts before birth—during pregnancy—and has a lifelong effect on the baby. We all know it is easier to get a thing right from the start than to get it wrong and put it right later, which is always more expensive.

A stressed mother means not just a stressed woman but a stressed baby. Since the baby is developing in her womb, all that is happening to her has an effect on her child’s development. I often think that I became a singer because my mother sang all the time while she was carrying me. Research has shown clearly that how we treat nought to two year-olds affects the whole of their lives, and society, and that money spent preventing problems at that stage is money well spent and the most effective use of our resources.

Let us look at what we can do during pregnancy. I am going to concentrate on mental and emotional development rather than physical development because I think we have to get those right first. Research has discovered that up to 20% of pregnant women experience mental or emotional illness requiring referral for psychological therapies. More effective measures to reduce stress, alcohol and tobacco use, drug use, malnutrition, poverty, and domestic violence could improve child IQ and reduce mental health and social problems later, and also reduce ADHD.

Antenatal depression is a predictor of postnatal depression. There is a high risk to baby from antenatal depression because of the effects of stress chemicals on brain development. Postnatal depression risks the effective attachment between mother and baby. The magnitude of the risk is clinically significant, so health professionals need training to spot the risk factors and symptoms and refer to services early.

In the UK, 144,000 babies under the age of one live with a parent who has a common mental health problem, but many children’s centres do not provide services that promote infant mental health. Perhaps we should do something about that. The benefits of improving the situation are many. Improving attachment and bonding prevents the baby being at risk of emotional disturbance later. Secure children are resilient, able to regulate their emotions, experience empathy and able to self-repair when stressed or challenged, so secure attachment can prevent all sorts of problems later.

Are all health visitors trained to detect attachment problems and identify the attachment types? I do not believe so. The anti-violence charity WAVE has recommended that, as well as the routine six-week assessment after birth, there should be a pre-birth assessment of the risk factors for infant mental health and another at three to five months to look at the parent-child interaction, which is so important for development.

Domestic violence is a very big factor here. It is reported that about one quarter of all children witnessing domestic violence develop serious social and behavioural problems themselves and sometimes repeat the cycle of violence. Also, it can seriously impact the parenting capacity of the victim. So domestic violence support services should prioritise pregnant women, particularly because there is evidence that domestic violence increases during pregnancy. Most of the services to address those issues are multi-agency, but in many parts of the country multi-agency working is said to be poor. There are good examples, such as the highland region’s streamlined rapid reaction system. How are the Government identifying such successful models and disseminating their expertise?

The staffing of early years services is very important. What is important is not just the qualifications of the people who go into that work but their personal qualities. Are those personal qualities—which I do not have time to go into—looked at during recruitment? What is being done to nurture and develop those desirable personal qualities among the staff of children’s centres and all those who work with very young children?