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New Mums
Welcome to Motherhood!
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What to Expect the First Year
Part of a series of 'What to Expect' books. American in flavour, but answers
questions you don't find answered elsewhere.
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Maternity Rights
This
link will access the government leaflet NI17 in pdf format.
(Get your free Adobe Acrobat reader
here) |
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The DSS caveat is that "this is only a guide to maternity benefits, it has
no status in law. It does not cover all the rules in the maternity benefits
scheme for every situation, nor does it provide a full interpretation of the
rules".
Nevertheless, it's what we all read in order to get a handle on our rights!
There have been some changes made as a result of the recent budget.
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Got the blues? |
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New mums can suffer a variety of reactions to new motherhood. In the US, there
has been little recognition of the illness, but websites such as
PPD - (Post partum distress) are
trying to redress the balance.
The baby blues, postnatal
depresseion (PND) and
puerperal
psychosis are all different and if you feel any apply to you, please don't
suffer alone but get your GP involved - it's amazing how effective a short
course of anti-depressants can be.
Post-natal illness affects between 70,000 and 100,000 women and their babies in
the UK every year - you are not alone!
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Even more important - be kind to yourself and forgive yourself for not being
the perfect mother. Few of us are!
Try Libby Purves
How NOT to be the Perfect Mother |
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I promise it will bring a smile to your lips!
Plus check out our pages to help you relax and
de-stress.
Or try this free
counselling website. We've heard positive things about it.
Then, when you're ready to
move
on... |
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Not many people know that PND can strike a year after the birth - but there is
a growing amount of research that suggests it does. Be aware that it takes a
couple of years for women's bodies to recover from pregnancy and for homones to
come back to pre-pregnancy levels.
If you're an older new mum, you may find
that the menopause kicks in just as you as starting to recover from new
motherhood. See our special section just for
you.
Try the Women's Nutritional Advisory Service for information
about nutritional supplements, PMS, IBS and the
Menopause. (WNAS encourages its
members to shop on-line at ThinkNatural)
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It's normal!!
One very simple tool new parents can use is called "normalizing."
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A new mum may feel as if she is the only one struggling so much. As a result,
she'll tend to isolate herself from others and lose the very support system
that could help make things better.
Normalizing allows people to realize that what they are going through is a
normal part of the lives of most people. They are not different and alone;
rather they are more like their friends than they realize.
Here you can read about the
three useful 'normalising statements' that can help new
mums (and dads) get through the day-to-day ups and downs during the first year
of parenting,
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The internet - a boon to new mums |
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If you're using the internet to shop
on-line and to find out about parenting and motherhood, you're in good
company - according to a recent survey of new mums.
New mums believe that the Internet has more information than other sources when
it comes to parenting tips, banking and booking holidays and generally saves
them time.
Where else could you get advice and do comparative shopping once your newborn
is fast asleep!!?
See the views of Advancing Women
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