Nursery World - Coronavirus: Under-fives' mental health at risk

Covid-19 is likely to increase the strain on the mental health of under-fives and their parents, warns the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), at the start of this week’s Infant Mental Health Awareness Week.

The NCB has launched ‘Nurturing Healthy Minds Together’ today, an analysis of research and policy relating to the mental health of young children.

The organisation fears that the anxiety and stress of lockdown, coupled with the extra difficulties in providing face-to face support at this time could further deepen children’s mental health problems in young children.

It is calling for policymakers to make young children’s emotional well-being a priority, especially through support that enables richer parent-child relationships.

While evidence is lacking to reliably estimate how many under-fives are at risk of mental health problems, research published in 2018 found that one in 18 (5.5 per cent) of two- to four-year-olds in England have a diagnosable-level mental health problem.

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