New funding supports program to create "happier" parents

It’s well known the first year of life is vital for a child’s development, but it can also be one of the most stressful periods for parents. New funding is allowing the Happy Parenting Program to investigate the best way to support new parents through this challenging period.

The first year is a time of many challenges for parents: potential sleep issues, rapid growth, teething, shifting to solid foods, developing relationships and more.

However, despite the importance and difficulty of this period, parents say there is very little support when their babies are between 4 and 12 months old, as there are no scheduled child health nurse visits during this time.

New funding from Channel 7 Telethon Trust is allowing researchers from Edith Cowan University’s Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute to investigae how parents and their babies can best be supported during this critical time.

The team has been working with families from The ORIGINS Project and is now broadening the study to invite families from the community.  Researchers are investigating different types of support for parents, including the Respectful Approach, which focuses on developing a cooperative relationship between child and parent by encouraging caregivers to treat their infants as capable and independent.

Lead researcher, ECU’s Associate Professor Therese O’Sullivan, said preliminary data had shown this method significantly lowers parents’ stress levels and increases parenting confidence in as little as six weeks. Assoc Prof O'Sullivan explains that, in the first few years of life, children’s brains are developing rapidly and are particularly sensitive to environmental influences.

“When young children experience stress in the context of supportive relationships with their parents, physiological effects such as increasing stress hormones, heart rate, muscle tension and blood pressure, are cushioned and return to normal levels relatively quickly.”

Researchers are looking to recruit families with babies up to six months of age to take part in a weekly parenting workshops, for two sets of eight week blocks.

The results of this project will provide valuable information on the potential role of early parenting in reducing risk of childhood diseases, particularly obesity and anxiety, through stress reduction and relationship building.

Supporting families early in their parenting journey may help parents develop a respectful and dependable relationship with their children from infancy, giving children the best foundation to grow from.

Channel 10 News featured the Happy Parenting Program, highlighting the potential benefits of the program.

Click on the image below to watch the broadcast.