Michigan Association of Infant Mental Health
The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health is an organization of individuals who are devoted to strengthening relationships between infants, parents and other caregivers. Infant Mental Health (IMH) professionals believe that the parent-infant relationship is central to the healthy development of young children and are committed to the view that these relationships are influenced by:

The following is a list of characteristics of many of the infants, toddlers and families who are referred to IMH professionals for services:

Infants may be: premature, underweight, failing to gain, failing to thrive, medically compromised, chronically ill, constitutionally fragile, temperamentally difficult to care for, irritable, inconsolable, experiencing regulatory disturbances, unresponsive, listless, depressed or hypersensitive, highly active, difficult to care for.

Toddlers may have: regulatory disturbances (sleep, eating, emotional response), sensory processing difficulties, behavioral difficulties (tantrums, biting), suspected or confirmed developmental delays, identified disabilities, disorders or disturbances.

Parents may be: adolescent, impoverished, undereducated, unemployed, substance abusing, depressed, stressed, experiencing marital conflicts with histories of unresolved losses that affect their parenting abilities.