Infant Mental Health Awareness Week 2023

12th June - 18th June 2023
‘Bonding Before Birth’


Infant Mental Health Awareness Week runs every June to highlight the importance of babies' emotional wellbeing and development. This year's theme is 'Bonding Before Birth'. 

Update 13/7/2023: A recording from the Healthy Development Adelaide (HDA) and Australian Association for Infant Mental Health SA branch (AAIMH) forum is now available at https://health.adelaide.edu.au/healthy-development-adelaide/events/list/2023/06/bonding-before-birth

What is Infant Mental Health Awareness Week?
Infant mental health is an often overlooked and misunderstood subject. Infant Mental Health Awareness Week provides an annual opportunity to discuss the importance of babies’ mental health and wellbeing as well as some issues that affect it. The Parent-Infant Foundation in the UK has set the theme and coordinated Infant Mental Health Awareness Week for seven years, during which time it has grown into a global event.

Why Bonding Before Birth?
Research shows that the experiences and relationships we have in the earliest years of our lives, including before birth, impact on the development of our brains. Stress and adversity experienced during pregnancy can have a negative impact on babies’ physical and mental health as they grow, but this doesn’t have to be the case. The services in place to support mothers, birthing people, partners and families in pregnancy can make a huge difference. Our hope is that this year’s Infant Mental Health Awareness Week will increase awareness of the importance of bonding before birth, and build for the services which we know can help.

Let’s celebrate early bonding with baby during International Infant Mental Health Awareness week by sharing:

  • What are our hopes and dreams for babies?
  • Who is your baby in your world?
  • Are babies in our hearts and minds? Post pictures, videos, thoughts, perceptions, feelings… anything! This is the one week a year when babies (or us on their behalf) get to use social media!!

Other things you can do:

  • Talk to friends, family, colleagues
  • Call up talk back radio and say ‘hey, it’s international infant mental health awareness week and I just want to get people to think about what it’s like for babies at the moment’. Tell them a story about your work, your baby, your friends’ and families’ babies.
  • Share on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok… Hashtag #IMHAW2023
  • Start a sub-reddit


The Mission of AAIMH is to help give infants, young children and their families the best possible start in the important, early years of life by improving professional and community understanding that infancy is a critical time for the development of emotional, physical, cognitive, social and mental health.

Visit IMHAW Parent-Infant Foundation for additional resources and events. 


We would like to acknowledge that AAIMH posters have had consumer input from the AAIMH Queensland Branch. Printable PDF posters are available to download here:
All Relationships Keep Growing and Changing A4 / A3
Bonding Before Birth (Baby Poster) A4 / A3
Bonding Before Birth (Pregnancy Poster) A4 / A3