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My Baby's Brain

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My Baby's Brain: An Evaluation of Hertfordshire’s My Baby’s Brain project


My Baby’s Brain (MBB) is an evidence-informed, low-dosage, low-cost training interventiondeveloped by a specialist consultant for Hertfordshire County Council. It is designed to support parents to optimise infant attachment and early learning by means of simple, Five to Thrive method.

Project information

My Baby’s Brain is an evidence-informed, a low-dosage, low-cost training intervention developed by a specialist consultant for Hertfordshire County Council. It is designed to support parents to optimise infant attachment and early learning by means of simple, ‘five a-day’ style messaging (‘Five to Thrive’).

It is offered as part of the county’s universal parenting support strategy, whereby antenatal and early years practitioners across health and social care agencies are trained to incorporate the My Baby’s Brain messages into their routine daily practice. It also uses a ‘cascade’ model, such that those who are trained are expected to share learning with other practitioners within their agency.

An initial pilot study demonstrated that My Baby’s Brain was well-received and suggested that participating in the programme had positively enhanced practitioners’ knowledge and confidence, and that parents they subsequently worked with also benefitted across a range of dimensions.

Research

This research has a focus on five key areas:

  1. The on-going impact of the project on professional practice, across a range of disciplines, and agencies
  2. The on-going impact of MBB on parents’ knowledge, confidence and attachment behaviours in the home learning environment
  3. The cost-benefits of the programme
  4. The implementation of MBB within the wider children’s services context and within the wider systemic strategy for parenting support, early help, early intervention and prevention within the county, and any implications for improvement of these
  5. Recommendations for future effectiveness, sustainability and scaling up the programme

Contact Us

Dawn Cannon

Mental Health and Wellbeing Division
Warwick Medical School
University of Warwick, CV4 7AL

Tel: +44(0)24 76 150 506

Publications

Warwick Infant and Family Wellbeing Publications

My Baby's Brain Final Report 2014

My Baby's Brain Executive Summary 2014

Warwickshire Infant Mental Health Pathway

Links

Division of Mental Health and Wellbeing