In its report, Mental Health in Infancy, Young Minds said the role of health visitors and midwives needs to be expanded to include more mental health work, and GPs and Sure Start workers should receive more training in this field.
'Frontline staff need to be supported by specialists in infant mental health where more serious problems are found, who should be a team within the specialist children's mental health service so that any ongoing problems can continue to be dealt with,' the charity said.
Young Minds emphasised that early intervention is essential, as research had demonstrated that the first two years of life see the most rapid period of brain growth and that its development is most closely linked to the baby's relationship with its primary caregiver, usually the mother.
Poor relationships may develop unless parents receive help in tackling a range of issues, from language delay and co-ordination problems to colic and eczema, Young Minds said.
The report said that because babies do not exhibit 'the classic symptoms of mental illness and disorder', the importance of mental health services in infancy is not well understood, and babies might not be referred for further treatment. However, babies do demonstrate that they are anxious and tense through poor sleep patterns, problems with feeding, restlessness and gastric upset.
Dinah Morley, acting director of Young Minds, said, 'Those involved in services for adults, teenagers, and even young children agree that if only problems were picked up and dealt with at an earlier stage, many of the more serious outcomes could have been prevented or minimised with specialist support.
'What is needed is a group of specialists, linked to child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), and in every area, dedicated to working with vulnerable new parents and supporting health visitors and GPs to ensure that every baby's mental health is safeguarded.'
However, the report stated that while CAMHS are receiving additional funding via local authorities and increased expenditure on health, 'there will still be a very significant gap between needs and resources'.
Young Minds argued that a multi-skilled team needs to be drawn from health, education, social services and possibly the voluntary sector, that collaboration between agencies at senior level must be improved, and that there should be good liaison with adult psychiatric services.
It added, 'The ongoing separation, at government level, of the services which need to combine to make this provision is not helpful.'
