What is Perinatal Mental Health?

Perinatal mental health is any mental health problem that occurs in pregnancy and up to one year after birth.

1 in 10 women will be affected by mental health illnesses, although many women underplay the severity of how they are feeling. The most common problems that specifically link to pregnancy and childbirth are:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Eating Problems
• OCD
• Postpartum psychosis
• Postpartum PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)

Despite the increased risks amongst some groups of women, it is important to note that anyone, from any walk of life, may be affected by mental illness.

What causes Perinatal Mental Health problems?

For some, there will be an apparent cause of why they have a mental health problem, for example, difficulties giving birth. This could cause postpartum PTSD, but there will be a combination of factors that can cause a perinatal mental health problem for many.

These can include:

• Previous mental health history
• Lone parent or poor couple relationship
• Lack of support
• Difficult childhood experiences
• Twins
• Low self-esteem
• Stressful living conditions
• Teenage parenthood
• Unwanted pregnancy

Will there be an impact on baby?

Although not inevitable, parental mental illness can impact the developing bond between parent and baby, which is proven to be significantly crucial at this time of life. Parents low mood or state of mind can affect how they respond to baby; they might feel overwhelmed by baby’s needs, unable to enjoy interactions with their baby or struggle with parenting tasks due to cognitive symptoms of depression. It’s important to know that perinatal mental illness is treatable, and support is available to help with the parent-infant relationship.

How can we help?

We have been awarded funding from Norfolk Community Foundation’s Perinatal Mental Health Fund to provide a series of online baby nurture groups to support parents and their babies to develop stronger relationships and increase social interactions. Our Family Service Coordinator, Claire, and 5 of our volunteers have recently qualified as IAIM Baby Massage instructors and are available to deliver baby massage to parents, both online and in their own homes.

Baby massage has many benefits for both parent and baby. They include:

For baby:

• Helps baby to feel secure and attached
• Reduces crying and emotional distress
• Increases relaxation and longer sleeps
• Helps baby develop body awareness and coordination
• Relieves of wind, colic, constipation, and teething pain.

For the parent:

• Helps them to feel closer to their baby
• Provides an enjoyable opportunity to spend one-on-one time with their baby
• They will gain a deeper understanding of their baby’s behaviour, crying and body language
• Learning a life-long parenting skill

To book a place on our free online baby massage course or have one of instructors come to your home (Norfolk addresses only) fill out a referral form.