What is mental health in infancy and early childhood and why is it important? How does the infant-parent relationship influence development, and how do these early experiences shape our lives? How can clinical assessment and intervention focus on these early relationships to improve developmental outcomes for infants, young children and their families? This thoroughly updated and expanded edition of Clinical Skills in Infant Mental Health: The first three years provides an evidence-based and practical approach to assessment of young children and their families across diverse settings.

Table of Contents

Introduction to infant mental health -- Attachment : theory, disruptions and disorders -- Principles of assessment in infant mental health -- Assessing risk in infancy -- Pregnancy, labour and birth -- Biomedical problems in infancy -- Sleeping -- Feeding -- Emotional and behavioural problems in toddlers -- Trauma in infancy and early childhood -- Gender development and identity -- Perinatal mental illness -- Parents abused as children -- Parents with personality disorder -- Parenting and substance abuse -- Adolescent parents -- Families with multiple adversities -- Approaches to intervention with infants, parents and families -- Professional issues : training , supervision, ethics and advocacy.