#358 -🚶‍➡️[Life Course Series] - How Does Mental Health Shape the Life Course of Preterm Infants?

In this episode, Dr. Daphna Barbeau sits down with Dr. Richard Shaw (Stanford University) and Dr. Soudabeh Givrad (Weill Cornell Medical College), child psychiatry experts and co-authors of Neurodevelopmental, Mental Health, and Parenting Issues in Preterm Infants. Their conversation shines a spotlight on the often-overlooked intersection of prematurity, neurodevelopment, and family mental health.

Dr. Givrad explains how the rapid brain growth that normally occurs late in pregnancy makes preterm infants especially vulnerable to stress, pain, separation, and environmental influences in the NICU. She and Dr. Shaw outline the higher risks for challenges in cognition, language, and motor development, while emphasizing opportunities for early interventions that can positively shape outcomes.

The discussion then turns to “infant mental health” and the ways relationships in the early years set the stage for emotional regulation, social development, and resilience. Both guests highlight how parental trauma, PTSD, depression, and anxiety affect not only caregivers’ well-being but also how they interact with and raise their children. Concepts such as vulnerable child syndrome, overprotection, and parental guilt are explored in depth.

Ultimately, this episode underscores why supporting parental mental health is as essential as any medical treatment—because how parents experience and process the NICU journey profoundly shapes the lifelong health and development of their children.