The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health Presents

Celebrates Babies 

(and those that Care for them) Week!

October 16-20, 2023

You're Invited:

Each year the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI-AIMH) and associations for Infant Mental Health Across The Alliance network, dedicates one week to celebrate infants, toddlers, young children, their families and early childhood professionals in Michigan and across the globe!  

Through intentional member and community outreach, networking, fundraising, social action and policy awareness efforts, babies, their families and those that support them are celebrated. 

MI-AIMH invites YOU to join in this year's Celebrate Babies initiative during the week of October 16-20, 2023

 Take time out of your usual schedule to celebrate the incredible work you do supporting and advocating for infants, young children and their families. Gather with your colleagues, family and community to host a 2023 Celebrate Babies Week event big or small! 

#Celebratebabies2023 

Gather With Colleagues

Coming together with other like-minded and diverse colleagues is a wonderful way to celebrate the work you do on behalf of babies and young children! Here are some ways to Celebrate Babies through Professional Development:  Host a brown bag lunch for local 0-6 providers and discuss an article relevant to working with families with young children. Gather for a case presentation or viewing of an infant and family centered film followed by reflective discussion. Hold a “Self Care” event/lunch with friends and colleagues to celebrate your accomplishments and recharge. Create a “must read” list of your favorite articles/books about babies/toddlers/young children/families. 




Use Your Voice a Call to Social Action

Reach out to your representatives, find out who your reps are and let them know how they can support healthy IECMH in their community! Ask where they stand on supporting policies that impact infants and young children and let them know you will be following up with them as the election approaches! Get together with your local chapter members or colleagues and set up a meeting with your local candidates! Educate them on the importance of healthy attachment for the infants and young children they want to represent and let them know that YOU will be a strong advocate and voice for the young ones in your community. And don't forget to get out and VOTE in the upcoming 2020 election!

Raise Funds & Raise Awareness

Your passion for the vision and mission of MI-AIMH can lead the way and touch the hearts of your family members, friends and associates. Often, we forget to tap the resources that are closest to us and we miss opportunities to promote the awesomeness of what we do! We need your help to raise funds to support the amazing work of MI-AIMH! So here are a few things to get you going. What motivates you about what you do? Use that as your talking point when raising awareness.  Challenge yourself to ask someone to support your passion through donating to MI-AIMH; for every “no”, there is someone to say yes! Collected funds can be donated through the MIAIMH website. In addition to social media, face meetings can really seal the deal when it comes to raising funds; it really is all about relationships! 



Reflect on Early Experiences

What better way to Celebrate babies than to acknowledge and celebrate your own early childhood! Here are some great ways to celebrate babies through reflection:  Gather up some of your own favorite early childhood photos, ask family members to “tell you about this baby”, reflect on how your early experiences inform your work. Spend time with family, friends or colleagues sharing what you learned. Host a Celebrate Babies get together, encourage attendees to bring their own baby photos, post them on the wall and try to guess “who’s that baby?”. Reflect on the baby photos with the group following the activity.


Join our e-mail list, check out the MI-AIMH website, and like us on Facebook to stay current on all the ways we're celebrating babies across Michigan. We'll also update this website as we gear up for Celebrate Babies Week 2023, make sure you check out the past Events and get connected to the MI-AIMH chapters and committees!

We'd love to hear what you have planned! Share your event details (fliers, photos, etc.) to Chapter/Membership Committee co-chairs Meghan Schmelzer (mschmelzer@zerotothree.org) & Michelle Freund (freundm@umich.edu). 


Celebrate Babies Animation.mov