All of our brain and body parts that make up mental health are largely built in infancy.
These include the various parts of the nervous system and the related neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine, GABA, glutamate, dopamine and the microbiome of the gut.
When infant relationships and experiences are nurtured in infancy the brain and body get their best chance at being resilient, mentally healthy and physically healthy.
When infant relationships and experience are stressful the brain and body can become highly vulnerable to mental health struggles and physical illness.
This means that developmental trauma can be repaired and healed with the support of different treatment modalities.
It is very important to know that the advice you get and the care you give will shape your baby’s brain can have a lasting influence on your baby.
So WHO do you trust with your baby’s brain?
YOUR gut feelings and intuition.
YOUR baby’s communication.
Your baby is born communicating and as the parent you are born to listen and respond and need to trust that!
Three key things define the balance of being able to listen and be heard and understood, they are love, connection and awareness. We have the first 7 years of life to program little brains and fill them with positivity, confidence, health and happiness.
These inner programs become the subconscious patterns for life. If these programs are continually degrading, dysfunctional and reactive chances are that child will grow to have a life full of these responses to their environment. A positive, loving, nurturing and empowering upbringing will more likely lead to an optimistic outlook and more engaged responses to their environment.
Our own inbuilt patterns can easily be passed on generationally. Your own stress or patterns are most likely from someone else along your family line of life. Awareness is key to breaking the cycle of stress, anxiety, anger, overwhelm, self esteem by being present in love and positive with your little ones.
Our brain and nervous system has the abilty to change and make new programs with habits, repetition and support. We can change the inner dialogue through conscious thoughts, beliefs and interpretations of our environment and this can happen at any point in our life regardless of age. Love, connection, movement and reassurance play a huge role in contributing to how these neurons are developing and how the nervous system grows.
To create happy loving children, we need a happy loving world full of happy loving adults!!! Be that for them(and for yourself!)
Significant emotional events and how they are responded to can pave the way for the nervous system response to any trauma/insult/injury that happens down the track through life.
Using osteopathic treatment as a way to support our own nervous system and also that of our children is an important and helpful way to ensure they are developing into well adapted adults. It is never too late to provide love, connection, reassurance and encourage regular movement for our kids to ensure this happens.
To create happy loving children, we need a happy loving world full of happy, healthy, connected and loving adults!
