The Voice of the Infant: What Scotland Is Teaching Me About Listening to Babies

One of the unexpected gifts of studying Infant Mental Health at the University of Glasgow has been discovering how seriously Scotland takes the experiences of babies and young children.

Through my studies, I have been introduced to research, policies, and practices that place babies at the centre of conversations about health, wellbeing, and human development. One concept that has particularly stayed with me is the idea of the voice of the infant.

In some cultures, and at different points in history, infants have been viewed as lacking awareness or understanding of the world around them. Because they cannot use words, their thoughts, feelings, and experiences have sometimes been underestimated or overlooked. 

Yet decades of developmental research tell us a very different story. 

From birth, babies communicate through their gaze, facial expressions, body movements, cries, physiological responses, and interactions with those around them. They show preferences, seek connection, respond to familiar voices, and react to the emotional environment in which they are growing.

The voice of the infant refers to these early forms of communication. The many ways babies express their needs, experiences, and emotional states long before words emerge. A baby turning towards a familiar voice, becoming distressed during separation, calming in the arms of a trusted caregiver, or looking away when overwhelmed is communicating something important about their experience of the world. Their voice may not be spoken, but it is present.

This understanding challenges us to see babies not as passive recipients of care, but as relational beings who participate in and shape interactions with the people around them. As infant researcher Daniel Stern observed, infants come into the world with remarkable capacities for human relatedness. They are not waiting to become social beings; they are social from the start.

The concept of the voice of the infant is rooted in decades of developmental research demonstrating that babies are active participants in relationships. Researchers helped challenge earlier assumptions about infancy by showing that babies arrive ready for connection and communication. Scotland's Voice of the Infant initiative builds on this growing body of evidence by encouraging professionals, services, and policymakers to recognise and respond to what babies communicate through their behaviour, relationships, and interactions.

Listening to the voice of the infant therefore requires more than observing babies. It requires adults to notice, interpret, and respond to what babies are communicating. Parents, professionals, policymakers, and society all play a role in ensuring that infants' experiences are recognised and valued.

Scotland has increasingly reflected this understanding through policies and initiatives that acknowledge babies as citizens whose experiences matter. It recognises that supporting infant wellbeing is not simply a family issue, it is an investment in the future health of communities and society itself.

As someone living and working in Cyprus, I find myself reflecting on what this could mean for us. There is a part of me that longs for a future in which infant mental health is not seen as a specialist topic, but as a shared societal responsibility, one where babies, parents, and early relationships are recognised as worthy of investment, protection, and care.

Perhaps I am a romantic, but I would like to believe that a society is at its strongest when it takes care of its people from the very start of life.

Because when we learn to hear the voice of the infant, we are not simply listening to babies. We are listening to the foundations of our future.

I'd love to hear your thoughts:

When you hear the phrase "the voice of the infant," what comes to mind? How can families, professionals, communities, and policymakers better ensure that babies' experiences are seen, valued, and represented from the very beginning of life?

Author

Angelica Georghiades

Certified Parenting Coach | Infant Mental Health Advocate 

Angali Parent & Child - Nicosia, Cyprus