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The Chinese government has established a three‐tier maternal care system covering the entire country and providing integrated antenatal care (ANC) for pregnancies. This study aimed to analyze the direct and indirect effects of ANC services on early childhood development. A community‐based cross‐sectional survey was conducted for mothers' ANC visits and assessments of early childhood development in Shanxi and Guizhou provinces, China. A total of 1660 mother–child dyads were included in current analyses: 29.2% of mothers did not receive any ANC (ANC1), 23.3% of mothers received ANC three or fewer times (ANC2), and 47.5% of mothers received ANC four or more times (ANC3). Children whose mothers received ANC services had a significantly lower risk of overall developmental delay (OR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.44–0.81 for ANC2; and OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.34–0.59 for ANC3) and social‐emotional developmental delay (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.49–0.94 for ANC3). Furthermore, a significant pathway relationship mediated by maternal depression and nurturing care was found between ANC and developmental delay. This study showed ANC services significantly reduced the risk of developmental delay in offspring. We also suggest that a nationwide ANC system can be a good delivery platform for scaled‐up early childhood development interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]