"Akachan ni Kanpai! Celebrating the Baby: Baby, Family, Culture" was the theme of the 11th World Congress of the World Association for Infant Mental Health (August 2008). It denotes every baby's right to be blessed from the beginning of life, whether the baby is healthy, ill, disabled, or born into unwelcoming social contexts. Across the world, modern families of the 21st century face increasingly stressful lives. Japan, with a rapid postwar social change, has yielded increasing cases of postnatal depression and abuse, alerting her to reevaluate amae, a cultural affinity for interdependency. Amae, as studied by Takeo Doi, originates in the mother--infant relationship and is carried through into adulthood characterizing Japanese mentality. The Japanese values for things simple, small, slow, and silent are typical in the art of haiku and Noh, but also render significant in infant mental health. Infants born under impossible conditions, such as those born extremely small and with congenital anomalies, survive through simple, sincere, sensitive care imbued with respect to their subtle signs. Their narratives of slow and steady progress from despair to a loving family context urge us to say "Akachan ni Kanpai" to countless infants worldwide whose voices are yet to be heard.
Copyright © 2011 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.