After birth, so much is checked. The baby’s weight. The feeding. The healing body. The appointments. The routines. But what about the mother’s wellbeing? Maternal mental health should not depend on whether someone happens to notice, whether a mother has the words to explain what she is experiencing, or whether she reaches breaking point before…
#youarenotabadmother if you suffered the loss of your baby. There are multiple reasons for perinatal loss: it is not your fault. Perinatal loss and grief are often minimized or hidden. Families that experience loss have the right to express their grief and be respected – let´s care for mothers. The loss of a pregnancy or…
The first World Maternal Mental Health Day was celebrated in 2016, and is commemorated every year in the first Wednesday of May – this year, May 6th 2020. World Maternal Mental Health Day was launched to raise awareness about mental health problems in the perinatal period, so as to encourage women to seek…
by Carmela K Baeza, MD, IBCLC As I was looking at images of mothers with facemasks and their newborns, I kept wondering what kind of a shock this would be for the baby. Babies are wired to look at their parents´ faces and learn to read and to express emotions from birth. A perinatal…
Postpartum should not be a time of battle. It should be a time of wellbeing, of enjoying your hard-earned, beautiful postpartum – a time of mothering with pleasure, to lessen the print of these scary times we are forced to live, by kissing, holding, hugging, loving your baby and being together hours on end. By Esther…
By Ibone Olza, MD, PhD, perinatal psychiatrist Babies feel, listen, perceive, know, understand, are moved, express, communicate. Babies love. They give. Give smiles, caresses, gazes, babbles. They gift us. They move us. They fill us. Babies are a transforming presence for those that love, care, and live with them. However, the modern world denies…
By Ibone Olza The European Institute of Perinatal Mental Health participated in this meeting of the Zimbabwe Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (ZSOG) together with the White Ribbon Alliance to promote Respectful Maternity Care. The meeting was organised by Obstetrician Ginny Liff, who has been collaborating with midwives Caroline Maposhere and Christina Rwadon over…
