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Children’s Hospital’s Los Angeles major initiative is mental health care for families experiencing complex floods of joy, fear and upheaval in the first few years of a child’s life.
Countless problems can emerge or worsen after a family is born, including postpartum depression in the mother, sleep problems, attachment issues between caregivers and children, early signs of behavioral tasks, domestic conflicts between parents, and housing anxiety that worsen as the family grows. These problems can be exacerbated if a child also experiences medical problems such as extended hospital stay, severe birth defects, and developmental delays.
A $25 million gift from the Tykun Olam Foundation of the Jewish Community Foundation in Los Angeles allows the hospital to expand mental health screening and services to 30,000 children seeking care at children’s hospitals each year, becoming one of the nation’s first hospitals, providing universal infant family mental health services. Currently, the hospital offers these services to around 1,800 children each year.
The idea behind this program is to provide attention and care that can strengthen the bond between parents and children during the baby’s important early days, and help prevent problems from swirling in the long run.
As we dig into parenting, interim kindergarten, health, and other issues affecting children ages 5 to 5, we will be involved in journalism funded by our community.
Melissa Carson, a hospital’s pediatric psychologist and co-director of the Early Connection Program, said these connections are essential for babies’ healthy brain development in an age of rapid neuronal formation and greater sensitivity.
Medical issues and family stressors, also known as childhood experiences, can interfere with this process, but often do not identify behaviors and other issues until they are spiralized pre- or post-school.
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1. Some of Vicente Giron Sarria’s medicines fill the cabinets in my home. 2. Evy Soto will replace the cap of the Vicente Giron Sarria feeding tube. 3. Stephanie Blanco shuffles the cabinet of her son’s medical records. 4. Evy Soto gives Vicente Giron Sarria (6) the formula through a feeding tube before he wakes up that day. (Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times) 5. Stephanie Blanco dresses her son Vicente Giron Sarria for the day.
“A little bit of support at a critical moment can really prevent the need for much more intensive service afterwards,” says pediatric psychologist Marianne Williams, co-director of the program.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles provides mental health screening and services to the youngest children who have passed through neonatal intensive care units for about ten years. The program was also funded by Mindy and Jean Stein. Gene Stein’s Tikun Olam Foundation focuses on childhood.
Demand became clear when the hospital discovered that many families who provided mental health support in neonatal intensive care units were sticking to the service after the hospital left the hospital. Soon, other departments, such as the heart, were requesting similar services from their patients.
“I hope this will become something that everyone understands and sees as an important part of a child’s development,” Mindy Stein said.
“Window” of opportunities in childhood
Hospitals will also use funds to train providers of mental health care for babies and families and study the effectiveness of the program in the hopes that the model will spread to other hospitals.
Marian Williams, a psychologist at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
“When we have a new baby, we have this kind of window, and when you have medical needs, we have that window,” Williams said. “You’ll probably say, ‘I really don’t need you. I’m cutting my finger here, so we’re fine.” But I think there will be more people who say, “Oh, because you asked…”
Many families can probably benefit from handouts and videos about common early childhood issues, such as sleep issues, noisy eating, and excessive crying. Some may benefit from a number of home visits from nurses who can join the parent group with others facing similar challenges, or can help them adjust to life with their new baby.
However, other families may need more intensive support, such as long-term therapy. The hospital will also screen for necessary social support, such as housing, food, transportation, and internet access.
Infants – What is family mental health?
The term “infant mental health” can be confusing. After all, it is difficult to believe that a baby is already experiencing emotional difficulties. However, early mental health care focuses on lasers on supporting developing relationships between caregivers and children, allowing children to set the trajectory of their children’s life.
For infants, therapists may work with parents to help them discover their baby’s cues, find activities that help the baby explore their environment, and work on their emotional regulation. As the baby gets older, the therapist uses play to develop bonds and begins to treat the child more directly.
Vicente has a train set in his bedroom.
These early months can be particularly difficult for families in the midst of a medical crisis, said Patricia Lacatos, a hospital psychologist who works with families of children who have been treated in intensive care units.
In the neonatal intensive care unit, parents not only deal with daily medical realities, but also said, “grief an imaginary baby – the baby you thought you had.” Her job is to visit the family regularly during her stay to help parents get over their grief and understand how the baby communicates.
Stressful experiences can also affect the baby’s well-being. For example, babies with traumatic medical needs can become panic every time an adult tries to touch them.
Psychologist Patricia Lacatos.
Lacatos said he could read the signs of struggling newborns in their eyes. A healthy baby says, “I’m ready. I’m here. I’m interested and I want to interact with the world.” However, babies who experience pain often have “you have a dull, glazed look in their eyes. You’re involved with them.
Others have eyes that are “wide open, like a hyperlat.” They were easily surprised, arching their backs and open their hands, as if to say, “The world is stressful for me.”
However, cultivating and supporting relationships with caregivers can help relieve that stress. Supporting this bond involves helping parents notice signs that their baby is ready to engage even for a second, and whether the baby’s cues say “soft my voice or just hold them and don’t let them look because they’re so exciting.” The ultimate goal is to help caregivers find the joy and joy they have for their baby.
Lifeline of support for mothers and babies
Stephanie Blanco of Mission Hills was first learned that she would have babies with major medical complications during ultrasound early in her pregnancy. “I didn’t think I could handle it,” she said.
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1. Photos of Stephanie Blanco and her son Vicente Giron Saria show toddlers hanging in their home fridge. 2. Ultrasound from Vicente Giron Salia, son of Stephanie Blanco.
However, she was soon referred to the fetal head center at a children’s hospital, specializing in pregnancy with the complex medical conditions in which she encountered Lacatos. Her son, Vicente Giron Sarria, was diagnosed with facial deformity, and Lakatos began joining Blanco and her partner at all meetings with the Craniofacial team.
“They explain [the problems] To me, however, you will experience so many emotions at the moment. So she tells me, “It’s okay, I’m here,” and she asks her how she feels. It was a moment of great tension and stress with her son’s father as they navigated what their new life would look like.
Vinny was born with many complications beyond predicted facial abnormalities, including the need to eat via feeding tubes, and spent about two months in the intensive care unit where Lacatos visited his family every other day.
Stephanie Blanco and Vicente dance to one of Vicente’s favorite YouTube videos.
Lacatos taught her breathing exercises, helped her connect with her son, and encouraged her to take some time for herself on a walk around the hospital campus. Slanco was able to bond with her baby. “You’re thinking, I can deal with this,” she said. “He’s my baby and we’re going to get through it. Love comes out.”
When Blanco and Vinny finally got home, the tasks didn’t finish, and neither did Lacatos support. Vinny needed some surgeries so swings had to learn how to feed him through gastronomic tubes, including midnight (including midnight).
However, Blanco and her partner Jesse Giron continued their visits with Lacatos for several more years. Vinny was eventually diagnosed with non-verbal autism and seizure disorder, and Blanco joined a support group for parents led by Lacatos.
Slanco said she handles life with medically complicated children who need constant care at home. “Every day is new. Every day we learn something. One day it’s harder than the other.”
However, she believes she saved her life in Lacatos and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “If it was their kindness, their compassion, their guidance, I would be lost.”
This article is part of the Times Early Childhood Education Initiative and focuses on learning and development for California children from birth to age 5. To learn more about the initiative and its charity funders, visit latimes.com/earlyed. The California Community Foundation’s Stein Early Childhood Development Fund is one of the funders.
Slanco has Vicente and their dog, Benny, at home.
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