The National Childbirth Trust (NCT), the Breastfeeding Network and members of the First 1001 Days Movement, have consulted with Public Health England, to produce a guide to help organisations decide when and how to restart their face-to-face support services safely and with confidence.
Covid-19 and the prolonged period of social restrictions have had an impact on the lives of pregnant women, their partners, and families with new babies.
Reduced access to pre and postnatal community support; restrictions in access to maternity care for partners; limited face-to-face support with breastfeeding; fewer possibilities for practical and emotional support from friends and family and financial insecurity – combined with high levels of misinformation about the virus and vaccine programme – have left many families struggling to cope. Some groups have been disproportionately affected, widening the inequalities that already exist.
Third sector organisations, charities and academics supporting early parenting have been providing a ‘voice’ for parental experiences, to ensure that attention on these issues remain at the forefront and that critical resources are applied in the short and longer term.
A guide to re-starting support services for expectant and new parents during Covid-19 is available to download here.
Meanwhile, Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, led by Perinatal Mental Health Partnership, runs from 3-9 May and the theme is ‘Journeys to Recovery’.
Over the last year, the ways in which services have changed to be delivered in alternative ways, due to Covid, has shown that the approach to recovery has been individual, the partnership said.
When surveying people about the ideas for this year’s Week, PMHP received a huge number of requests to highlight how to seek support for mums and families during this unusual time, alongside detailing the different ways in which recovery can take place.
For information on daily online events taking place to support new and expectant mothers during this week-long campaign, visit
https://www.facebook.com/PerinatalMHPartnershipUK/
Instagram @perinatalmhpartnership
or Twitter @PMHPUK