Childcare found to be bad for babies
The study recommends that all children should, where possible, be cared for by parents during the first 12 months of life
Parents and governments are taking a "high-stakes gamble" with the long-term wellbeing of children by subjecting them to long hours of formal childcare from a very young age, according to a Unicef report.
The study recommends that all children should, where possible, be cared for by parents during the first 12 months of life. Children from the poorest homes face the double disadvantage of being born into material deprivation and receiving sub-standard childcare.
The research, which draws on scientific and psychological studies, as well as government data, is bound to re-ignite the fraught debate on whether over-exposure to formal childcare is bad for very young children.
It is also likely to provoke concerns over whether growing political, social and economic pressure on parents, particularly those on low incomes, to return to work soon after their child is born is at odds with emerging research into children's brains showing the importance of stable one-to-one care in the first year of life.
The study suggests that government policies on maternity leave and childcare provision could be at odds with "today's knowledge of the critical developmental needs of the very young child".
The report has been published at a key point in the childcare debate. Children born today into the rich world are part of the first generation in which a majority will spend a large part of their early childhood in childcare.
The report notes that high-quality formal childcare can bring huge benefits to children, particularly those from disadvantaged homes, expanding their social and cognitive development and providing them with stimulation that they might not get at home.
Aggression
But it cites research from Britain and the US suggesting that children who spend too long in childcare at too young an age may suffer from behavioural problems, aggression, antisocial behaviour, depression and inability to concentrate, although the effects are thought to be small.
The report, drawn up in consultation with governments and experts from countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and with the World Bank, suggests that the age at which group childcare becomes appropriate is somewhere between ages one and two.
Because poor families are under the greatest pressure to find cheap childcare their children are most at risk, the study says. To counter this, it recommends that childcare services for the poorest be heavily subsidised. (© The Times, London)
- Alexander Frean in London
