The Space to Parent
- Sarah
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Imagine if giving families a single cash transfer could cut infant deaths in half. That’s exactly what a recent study in Kenya found: when families received about $1,000 in unconditional aid, infant and child mortality dropped by nearly 48%.
The finding is striking, but what’s equally important is why this worked. The money didn’t just buy food or pay for hospital fees. It bought something harder to measure, but essential: space for parents to breathe, recover, and turn their attention toward their baby.
How Cash Created Change
Researchers tracked thousands of families across rural Kenya. Those who received the transfer were far more likely to:
Deliver in a hospital rather than at home.
Afford better nutrition for themselves and their children.
Reduce the number of hours mothers spent doing physically demanding labor around childbirth.
That last point is critical. When mothers were freed from the pressure to work through pregnancy and postpartum, they could rest, heal, and bond with their baby. In effect, the transfer functioned like paid parental leave—a luxury that many families, in any country, often go without.
Mental Health as the Missing Link
The study didn’t directly measure mental health outcomes, but we can connect the dots. Other research on unconditional cash transfers shows that when women are the recipients, stress goes down, cortisol (the stress hormone) decreases, and overall well-being improves (Haushofer & Shapiro, 2016).
For new parents, this matters enormously. Less stress and more recovery time mean greater capacity to notice, respond to, and enjoy their baby. This “mental bandwidth” is often what’s stretched thin in early parenthood. By meeting survival needs—food, safe delivery, basic security—cash creates room for parents to be emotionally present.
Why This Matters Everywhere
Whether in rural Kenya or here at home, the principle holds: when parents have more security, they have more capacity to nurture. And nurturing isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” It’s the foundation for a child’s growth, health, and lifelong resilience.
Programs and policies that recognize the mental load of early parenthood—whether through paid leave, financial supports, or accessible health care—aren’t just helping parents. They are saving lives and building stronger beginnings.
Early Relational Health: The Core of It All
At its heart, this is about relationships. Early relational health is the idea that a baby’s well-being is deeply tied to the quality of connection with their parent. That connection depends on presence, responsiveness, and nurture—things that require mental and emotional space.
When a parent’s bandwidth is consumed by survival stress, their ability to tune in to their baby’s cues is diminished. But when that stress is lightened—even temporarily—parents gain the capacity to nurture. That capacity is what fosters secure attachment, resilience, and thriving development.
At Baby and Me, this is the work we focus on: helping parents create the space—mentally and emotionally—to connect with their babies. Because supporting parents is supporting infants. If you’re feeling stretched thin, I’d love to talk with you about how to build more space to parent.