Nature’s Impact on Early Childhood Development

Throughout her career, Teri has seen the benefits of engaging children early in nature. “Parents who go hiking with their child in a baby backpack, let them play in parks, climb trees, rescue worms and jump in puddles are building up their child’s immunity and increasing their motor skills,” she shares. “Those kids, who have been encouraged to play in and explore nature, are less fearful, more creative and know how to calmly interact with other people.”

In addition to nature’s impact on children’s cognitive development, Teri also sees mental and emotional health benefits for parents. “I want parents to feel the healing, peaceful aspects of nature that they can get away even if it’s just to a little neighborhood park or a vacant lot with wildflowers.”

“Nature is big enough to take anything that we have to give any stress or worry. Kids will respond to their parents being less stressed and spending time in nature also creates beautiful family memories that they can look back on.”

Virtual Programming during the Pandemic

During the pandemic, Teri and her team pivoted to provide online programs via Facebook Live and Zoom to continue to share the benefit of engaging in nature. “Our team gave live virtual trail tours showing people different plants and animals while they answered questions like, ‘Susie from Oakland would like to know what that green flower is called to the left.’”

She saw the benefits for her staff who also missed the in-person interaction with visitors and one another, “We were so grateful to be able to do that and help others and ourselves fight that sense of isolation, it felt like we were fulfilling our purpose.” The park is now open for in-person visits with COVID-19 precautions in place (e.g., one-way trails with social distancing) and is seeing an increase in visitors.

As we celebrate National Arbor Day and parks continue to open, Teri encourages us all to head outdoors: “Nature is where we belong and the place we go to for healing, peace and restoration. Give yourself permission to enjoy time outside for yourself; we work so hard but remember Mother Nature is there to give back to you.”

Making Impact for Those Most in Need

As a doula, Tina helps each birthing person achieve their healthiest pregnancy, labor and birth possible by providing educational, emotional and physical support at every stage of the journey.

Tina believes her own experiences — as a first-time mother relying on WIC and Medicaid, and as the daughter of a teenage mother who was in the situation a lot of her clients are in now — help her relate to her clients on a deeper level.

“It’s really important that people in underserved communities get the access they deserve to professional pregnancy, labor, and postpartum support,” Tina shares. “We help all families realize they can bond with their baby in the womb, that they have a voice when they go the hospital and options during labor and birth.”

One of her favorite parts of her work is teaching parents ways to bond with their babies through modeling. “I help show how easy it is to talk with a developing baby,” she explains. “Some parents aren’t comfortable reading to a baby in utero but seeing me put myself into an awkward situation and model this can make them more open to trying it themselves.”

For Tina, watching parents grow into their roles is the ultimate reward. “It’s incredible to watch the transformation into parenthood,” she shares. “I get excited and overjoyed watching the families I work with utilize tools I helped equip them with during pregnancy.”

A Champion for Mental Health Care

Tina’s personal relationship with each pregnant person helps her ensure they receive the necessary support throughout their prenatal journey, including mental health supports.

Tina recalls one young mother, who disclosed that she was struggling with depression as a result of sexual abuse as they walked through her birth plan. When Tina asked if the mother had talked to her provider about it, the mother responded that she hadn’t and was too afraid to bring it up.

“She was too afraid that if they found out she was depressed and had all of this past trauma, they would take her baby away,” Tina recalls.

Tina secured the young mom’s consent to attend her next prenatal appointment with the mother and gently raise the issue of mental health and postpartum depression with the OB-GYN, eventually leading to a referral for therapy and medication.

“For someone in the medical field to tell her, ‘You have the potential to be a great mom with depression,’ that was all she needed. She became more confident as a parent.”

Tina also ensured that the young mother was able to establish safe boundaries with her nurses and doctor during labor. “When we did her birth plan, she wrote at the top in red ‘I am a survivor of sexual trauma. Do not put your hands on me without my consent.’ And as a result, everyone was very respectful of her space and boundaries,” she remembers.

Virtual Support and Moving Beyond the Pandemic

Given the hands-on nature of her work, the transition to virtual support has been “a wild ride” for Tina. “It’s been very challenging to not get to see my clients face-to-face if they don’t have the ability to do Zoom or Facetime,” she shares.

To follow state guidelines during the pandemic, Tina had to stay out of the hospital room with her laboring clients, so she used a sanitized traveling tablet to virtually interact instead. “I haven’t been to a birth since March 2020 and that has been heartbreaking to not be in the room with my clients,” she says.

One surprise benefit of the virtual outreach is the ability to engage on a more personal level. “I have my kids running around in the background when I’m on Zoom and it has taken a layer of professionalism away,” she admits. “But it’s also allowed my clients to connect to me because they see I’m real and struggling like they are.”

As the pandemic subsides, Tina is eager to get back into the labor and delivery room with her clients because, as she says, “Research has shown that having continuous labor support creates better birth outcomes.” She knows the benefits of the presence of doulas in birth and in the postpartum period play an important role in helping parents and infants create a foundation for success.

As the director of Start Early’s Enterprise Project Management Office, Colleen Vehr knew the early months and years of a child’s life are critical to their learning, growth, and development. Knowing this, she was particularly grateful to be able to have extended time away from work to focus on her rapidly growing family and providing for her newborns’ needs as they grew and changed each day.

As a mother of twins who spent time in the NICU, Vehr shares, “I really cherish the time I was able to spend at home nurturing my babies so they could thrive in the way that all children deserve.”

Providing parents with paid time off from work to care for their young children helps families begin their journey on a strong foundation of caring, consistent relationships. Infants experience rapid rates of brain development fueled by nurturing and consistent relationship with caregiving adults, and these earliest interactions have a significant, long-lasting impact on executive functioning, early communication, and problem-solving skills.

Bridget Byville, vice president of Development, and another recent mother at Start Early recalls how her parental leave helped get her son to a place where he was healthy and thriving. “My parental leave helped us get into the cadence of being a family and creating those social emotional connections that we needed. It was especially beneficial for creating a bond with this tiny human — who is very fragile — and it gave me time to focus on my health and well-being post labor,” she shares.

Indeed, research has found that paid family leave leads to a wealth of benefits related to child development and child and caregiver health. One recent study found that paid leave was linked to better language, cognitive and social emotional outcomes in toddlers regardless of socioeconomic status and fewer infant behavior problems. Research also suggests that parental leave — especially paid leave — can support children’s health during this critical window, including positively affecting breastfeeding rates and duration, reducing the risk of infant mortality, and increasing the likelihood of infants receiving well-baby care and vaccinations.

The benefits that paid leave produces for young children and their families have not only compelled Start Early to advocate for policies that increase access to paid leave but has compelled our organization to adopt our own paid leave policies, including providing up to 6 months of paid maternity, paternity or adoption leave for employees.

The U.S. is one of only eight countries that does not offer paid leave, forcing parents to cobble together paid personal time, sick leave and short-term disability, if available or feasible. As a result, the average maternity leave in the U.S. is about 10 weeks.

Educational & Emotional Support

The birth of a new family member can be both an exciting and overwhelming time, even before the unique circumstances created by the global pandemic. Laura immediately found her phone conversations, text messages and virtual home visits helpful.

“With COVID limiting our resources, it was nice to have an outside connection — someone here to listen and talk, who is very knowledgeable and nonjudgmental,” she explains.

Laura laughs a little as she admits that Tommy hasn’t been her easiest baby, earning the nickname “Mr. Grunty Pants.” After Tommy was diagnosed with reflux, Marianne encouraged safe sleeping habits and offered tips on how to help him sleep and to hold him upright after feedings. She also shared information about the different periods of crying, which helped Laura and her husband reestablish what they had known with other babies but had forgotten.

“Marianne helped us remember that he’s not crying to be annoying, he’s crying to tell us something. She also reinforced that what we are experiencing is normal, although frustrating. It is a phase of Tommy’s development, and it will pass,” Laura recalls.

The program also provided Laura with an extra layer of emotional support. In a time that is usually focused on the new baby, she found a safe space to talk with Marianne about her other children, the loss of her second daughter at 23 weeks and 3 days, and the impact on her emotional health for each subsequent pregnancy.

“After being pregnant for so long and caring for others, I felt seen, loved and cared for,” she remembers. “When we didn’t have family support, the extra emotional and educational support she gave us was encouraging and helpful. Marianne fostered a caring relationship with my family and helped enhance a smoother transition with a new baby and the changing of sibling and family dynamics.”

Furthering Knowledge

In her maternal newborn clinical, Laura teaches nursing students about nurse postpartum home visits, including conducting an assessment, providing family education, breastfeeding and bottle feeding support, and fostering a caring relationship with the family. After experiencing the program and its benefits, Laura is eager to pair her nursing students with Family Connects nurses to witness the program first hand.

“The postpartum home care visit offers nurses the opportunity to reinforce self and infant care,” Laura explains. “The holistic care Marianne delivered helped me better adjust to the changes that Tommy brought to our family. She provided the support and encouragement that I needed, and for that I am grateful as it not only benefited me and Tommy, but my whole family.”

“During learning, students are often so focused on getting the answer right and what’s in the textbook, and they get such brief glimpses into the unique lives and needs of families during their clinical time at the hospital,” she concludes. “Bringing a new baby into a family is a stressful time for all families. Raising awareness of universal newborn support programs like Family Connects Illinois can help our future nurses ensure all families get connected to resources in the community once they leave the hospital.”

Support through COVID-19 and Delivery

Diana says Patricia has been her main support over the past year. In the months leading up to her birth, they would talk about prenatal care, fetal development and how Diana could best advocate for herself and her child. When Illinois’ stay-at-home order was implemented in March, Patricia continued to support Diana through video chats, phone calls and text messages.

Then, just weeks before her due date, Diana and her husband each tested positive for COVID-19. She recalls crying as she called Patricia, who helped connect her with a therapist and walked her though what would happen at the hospital if she were still positive on the day of the birth. Thankfully, her symptoms were mild and she tested negative before her delivery after self-quarantining.

Due to the hospital’s COVID-19 restrictions, Diana was only allowed to have one person with her in the delivery room: her husband. But even though Patricia wasn’t physically in the room, she constantly checked in with Diana to guide her through the birthing process and ensure it was going as planned. [click to hear audio] “She was always making sure, ‘Oh, you should ask for this.’ It was like she was there,” Diana recalls.

The strong doula-parent relationship that Diana and Patricia have built has been a lifeline for Diana. [click to hear audio] “I’m alone here. My mom just passed away two months ago, and she was my guidance.” Not having her mother to talk to has been difficult, but Diana is comforted knowing her mom knew she had support here in Chicago. [click to hear audio] “Because she knew, ‘Oh no, she’s not all alone because Patricia’s there, she’s going to help her.’”

Importance of Starting Early

To Diana, early learning and care is important because there isn’t a parenting manual and like every parent, she wants what is best for her son. She knows the resources and supports she’s received from her doula and home visitors are laying the foundation for her son’s future success.

This knowledge has empowered her to take the lead in being Matteo’s advocate and best teacher. While she learned many of the basics of parenting watching her brother raise two children — like changing a diaper — she wasn’t aware of the developmental milestones for infants and toddlers or activities that helped babies reach them.

[click to hear audio] “I didn’t have any idea about the milestones and all the things that I’m learning now,” she says “But I would say that I know them now because of Patricia.”

As she looks ahead to the future, Diana has many dreams for her family. Although English will be Matteo’s first language, Diana believes it is important that he be able to speak, read and write in Spanish. She looks forward to deepening their bond by teaching him in the coming years.

In the meantime, she’s helping her son continue to meet his developmental milestone by sitting on the floor each day, talking and singing with him. [click to hear audio] “I talk to him. He’s going to be a talker, because of me,” she says proudly.