Kate Silverton: 'Leaving your baby to cry could harm their future mental health'
WATCH: Kate Silverton on why you should never leave a baby to cry it out
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She's the reassuring face of BBC News – and now, Kate Silverton is lending her comforting words to parents in a new book packed with advice.
The broadcaster, 50, is training to be a child therapist, and has now written There's No Such Thing As Naughty.
In a new interview, the mother-of-two discusses how good mental health begins far earlier than we think.
Speaking to presenter Kate Thornton on her White Wine Question Time podcast, she reveals that "brain development starts in the womb".
Silverton – who gave birth in her 40s – explains: "How safe I feel as an adult – my anxiety – actually starts with how my brain develops in the womb. So the stress of a mum, or what's going on in her environment, will influence [it].
"This is not to scare people – but just so there's an understanding that it's really important to nurture pregnant women."
Buy it: There's No Such Thing As 'Naughty' by Kate Silverton | £11.58 from Amazon
The former Strictly star points out that the first two years of our lives are crucial for our wellbeing in years to come.
She continues: "There's lots of stuff in the environment that our babies' brains will respond to. Do I feel safe? Am I feeling nurtured? All these things are laying the foundations – little bricks – for future mental health."
However, Silverton says that the biggest gift we can give our children under the age of five is emotional regulation.
Which means bringing them "back down to calm, carefully and gently" – and responding to their needs when they are crying, since for a while that's the only way they can communicate.
The presenter explains: "The baby actually stops crying because they give up...there is an unconscious conclusion: I can't trust that someone is going to come for me when I need them."
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Silverton's new book features numerous tips for soothing children when they are having a meltdown, by engaging with them and acknowledging how they are feeling.
Discussing what is happening to their mind when they start crying in places like the supermarket, she explains: "There's a lot going on, it can trigger a little stress response which can build up."
It then explodes, she adds, in way that looks like like it's all about buying the wrong type of cornflakes.
She notes: "But there is always a reason...when we dig down beneath those meltdowns, they will melt away. Because we're telling them 'I see you'."
Hear more from Kate on the White Wine Question Time Podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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