Babies can experience psychological trauma when their environments are repeatedly harmful or threatening to them or to their parent or caregiver. Traumatic experiences might include physical and emotional abuse, neglect, exposure to domestic abuse or high levels of stress or conflict at home.
Trauma early in life is influential because the brain is particularly “plastic” and susceptible to influences in pregnancy and the earliest years. Because early development lays the foundations for what happens next, experiences at that stage can have potentially widespread and long-term consequences.
A significant predictor of how adversity will impact a child is the strength and security of their relationship with their parent. Without a nurturing relationship to support them, young children experience negative events as more traumatic. If the relationship between parents and a baby is abusive or neglectful, this can be more damaging than other forms of early trauma.
Understanding trauma helps us to understand why infant mental health and early relationships are so important.
There is plenty of useful resources available including an infographic that tells the story of how trauma can affect a child, and what can be done to mitigate its impact. There is also a mini podcast series available on Spotify which focuses on understanding early trauma from different perspectives.