This paper examines the emergence of child health policy as a global concern from the perspective of Uruguay’s interaction with the international public health community in the early 20th century and its role in the circulation of child health ideas and practices. It considers two facets of national-international interplay: a) Uruguay’s exploration of and interrelationship with the international panorama of policies, research and lessons on the improvement of child health; and b) the translation of Uruguay’s domestic debates into the influential Instituto Internacional Americano de Protección a la Infancia – IIPI and the purveying of Uruguay’s policies, research, and lessons on child health improvement to other countries and to international health and welfare agencies.