8th June 2026
In support of this week’s Infant Mental Health Awareness Week (#IMHAW2026), we are delighted to share this Voices blog by Eileen Perrins, iHV Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Lead, who shares some of our recent work on ‘Little Sparks, Big Starts’ and how it helps health visitors to support parents to “tune in” to their babies.
Eileen Perrins, iHV Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Lead
This week is Infant Mental Health Awareness Week and the Institute of Health Visiting is pleased to support this important week focusing on this year’s theme of ‘Attunement’.
Interestingly, the word ‘Attunement’ has been in use in the English language since the 1820s, and its definition is the ability to tune in and achieve a state of harmony or alignment with others. In health visiting, we are supporting parents to connect with their babies on an emotional level but, despite having being around since the 19th century, the word “attunement” can sometimes require a bit of demystifying.
In our recent collaboration with Kindred Squared, we spoke to a panel of parents to determine what they knew about baby brain development and how much they had talked about this with their health visitor. Whilst we know that health visitors have a huge expertise and knowledge in baby brain development and the first 1,001 days, some parents felt that messages about baby brain development were not always clear, consistent or easily remembered. Parents were very keen to have this information in a way that felt easily accessible, jargon free, and would support them in their parenting journey.
As a result of this, we developed ‘Little Sparks, Big Starts.’ Its primary goal is to raise awareness about the critical importance of early childhood experiences in shaping brain development, emotional wellbeing, and future learning outcomes. The programme emphasises that small, everyday interactions – like eye contact, talking, playing, and cuddling – can have a profound impact on a child’s development, giving them a strong foundation for lifelong health and learning.
That ‘tuning in’ is done during the everyday moments, helping parents see the strengths that are already happening and that there is no such thing as a perfect parent. Attunement does not mean responding ‘perfectly’ every time.
The programme offers a free e-learning package for the health visiting workforce and a web-based App that parents can access, containing key information, videos and further details giving the option for those who wish to explore more deeply and learn more.
E-learning package for the health visiting workforce
The e-learning is FREE to access – it covers how baby brains are built, a brain-building toolkit, and putting the theory into practice. The e-learning has been designed to take less than an hour to complete, hopefully adding value to practice without also adding additional burden.
- In the recent evaluation, 96% of health visitors said they would recommend to the e-learning to their colleagues.
Web-based Parent App
The web-based Parent App was developed in partnership with Ready 2 Relate and is accessed via QR code (see below). The value of the health visitor contact and the power of the trusted relationship cannot be underestimated, but the App can sit alongside and support those conversations and, in addition, can provide further resources and a reference point where parents might be keen to know more.
- 100% of parents rated the App as ‘excellent’ – they reported that it had helped them to learn new ways to support their baby’s development.
