Early childhood

From Tiny Tot to Toddler: a practical guide for parents from pregnancy to age two (2024)

From Tiny Tot to Toddler is a practical guide that contains scientifically supported information about pregnancy, delivery and the first two years of a child’s life. A free printed guide is given to all new Québec parents at the beginning of pregnancy follow-up. Parents involved in an adoption process can also receive a free guide.

2024 edition: What’s new?

The 2024 edition includes updates on several topics in the Feeding your child section. Specifically, there are changes to the Breastfeeding your baby and Foods chapters. The content is based on the latest scientific findings and current practices in Québec. 

Information on COVID-19, adjusted annually since the 2021 edition, has been updated again. In the 2024 edition, COVID-19 is often treated the same as other respiratory diseases.

The document What’s new…

Promoting the Global Development of Children 0 to 6 Years of Age: Some Principles to Guide the Action

This knowledge translation tool, developed by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), aims to support early childhood stakeholders in the implementation of concerted actions at the national, regional, and local levels. More specifically, the tool targets professionals who accompany early childhood consultation and mobilization, as well as partners and actors on the ground who feel affected.

The tool is based on two knowledge syntheses1. These syntheses have identified principles for effective early childhood interventions across Canada. The tool introduces these principles and illustrates them with examples of interventions that have been evaluated. There are, of course, many effective and inspiring actions in Quebec; however, it was impossible to list them all in this tool. We encourage early childhood stakeholders to share their success stories for further reflection and mobilization.…

The Socio-Emotional Development of Children 0 to 6 Years of Age: A Tool for Early Childhood Stakeholders

This knowledge translation tool, developed by the Institut national de santé publique (INSPQ), is based on the synthesis Développement socioaffectif de l’enfant entre 0 et 5 ans et facteurs associés. The synthesis and tool were developed as part of the Initiative concertée d’intervention pour le développement des jeunes enfants (ICIDJE) working group, “Intervention Support” component.

The tool consists of two parts :

  1. The pyramid of social-emotional development from 0 to 6 years of age
  2. Social-emotional development from 0 to 6 years of age: one step at a time

Each part may be used independently.

  • The pyramid of social-emotional development from 0 to 6 years of age
    (infographic + glossary)
    This section includes an infographic presenting a comprehensive framework of key aspects that influence the development of children’s social and emotional skill…

Current state of knowledge on parents’ social isolation and loneliness from pregnancy to the end of early childhood: definitions, measuring instruments, extent, and associated factors

This review provides a portrait of our current knowledge on parents’ social isolation and loneliness during the perinatal and early childhood period. This document informs public health actors working with parents and their families on various aspects of these two phenomena. A scoping review was carried out to identify: 1) the definitions of social isolation and loneliness, as well as the distinction with certain related concepts; 2) the main instruments used to measure social isolation and loneliness; 3) the extent of social isolation and loneliness in the population of interest; and 4) the main factors associated with social isolation and loneliness.

The current state of knowledge on social isolation and loneliness during the perinatal and early childhood period is limited. However, this scoping review demonstrates that:

  • There is an emerging consensus that social isolation and loneliness are two separate realities. Social isolation is considered an obje…

Scientific Advisory Report on the Effects of Group Prenatal Classes

The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) [Québec’s public health institute] was mandated by Québec’s Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) [ministry of health and social services] to produce a report on the effects of group prenatal classes. In Québec, prenatal classes are meant to provide pregnant women and their partners with information and to prepare them for childbirth and their new role as parents.

The purpose of this report is to identify the effects of group prenatal classes based on the recent scientific literature in order to better position their contribution to the service offering in Québec.

Methodology

Bibliographic research was conducted with a focus on publications dated between 2004 and 2015 in the Ovid SP, Medline and EBSCOhost databases using keywords related to health promotion, obstetrical procedures, pregnancy outcomes, breastfeeding, health and adaptation. The model of health status and i…

Conditions for Success of Actions to Promote Total Child Development: State of Knowledge

The purpose of the Joint Intervention Initiative for Early Childhood Development (JIIECD) is to support the development of the children of Québec, improve their school readiness and enhance their success in school. The first phase involves conducting the Québec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten (QSCDK). The second phase consists of implementing actions that may support child development on the basis of the results obtained in the first phase. Several partners are collaborating in this initiative: the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS), the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (MELS), the Ministère de la Famille, the organization Avenir d'enfants and the Institut de la statistique du Québec (ISQ).

The intervention working group [JIIECD intervention support phase], a committee of partners from the project and from the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), has tasked itself with supporting the planning of actions by consid…

Conditions for Success of Actions to Promote Total Child Development : Tool for reflection

This tool was developed to support the collective decision-making process concerning actions to promote total child development. It is designed for local and regional actors seeking to take an objective look at the services available in their areas based on the outcomes of the Québec Survey of Child Development in Kindergarten (QSCDK). This tool can be used to conduct a self-evaluation based on the ten conditions for success set out in the document Conditions for Success of Actions to Promote Total Child Development: State of Knowledge.

The tool may be used when undertaking general and concerted planning of actions within a given territory, fine-tuning an existing plan or evaluating the adequacy of a new action. It may also be useful for matching the ongoing adequacy of your actions against the conditions for success.