Thoughts on Safe Motherhood – From One Heart to One

#two on the “Safe Motherhood Week” list.

The task I was given was to help the EU campaign for this important work by Irish writer and editor Danielle Barron. The campaign is held every week of October to raise awareness about pregnancy and safe motherhood.

Others have gathered experience through my work as a medical visitor

I want to focus on preventing loneliness and depression after giving birth.

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In Denmark Health Visitors created from this town visit families with newborn babies and follow the life of mothers and babies in the first years of their lives. We are trained as nurses and we also learn about the health and development of children before we use the “Health Visitor” title. See more about the Danish postcard here

In the last years of my career we became more aware of finding women who are suffering from Postpartum Depression. When the child was eight weeks old, we allowed his mother to be tested to see who might have this habit. It was not difficult to talk about the test at the beginning of the trips to prepare both parents for this. About one in ten women suffer from depression in some way.

I visited them more than we usually do to see the lady. Sometimes doing that can be enough to help him. Women with severe and chronic anxiety need professional help, and I refer them to their doctor.

I can encourage her husband to be very busy with how the child is growing up and help the family ask their relatives or friends for help.

Fathers can also suffer from postpartum depression. The symptoms are different for women.

I wrote about it in a post in Danish. It can be google translated if anyone is interested.

When asked about What is a good parent? they all say:

Being a good parent is meeting a child’s needs and taking care of them

When you are receiving treatment for postpartum depression, it is important to understand how to bond with your baby. Otherwise, both sides will suffer for the rest of their lives.

Here is my conversation with a girl whose mother had this problem.

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In Denmark, we have several months of paternity leave, and fathers also have a few weeks, and parents can share a few weeks if they want. It is very convenient and suitable for many parents. For some, it can be a time of loneliness.

From the post “Postcard of Denmark”:

Most are allowed to leave work four weeks before the birth and most can leave up to eight weeks before the birth. It depends on the workplace agreement. Vacation is paid.

After the birth, the mother has 14 weeks of leave and the father has two weeks at the same time. After 14 weeks, they have 32 weeks to decide who will be the father or the mother. You get paid, but the cost varies from job to job.

In the late 1980’s I started helping women join groups called “Mother’s Groups”. We as Health Visitors gathered those who gave birth to new born children in a certain month and in a certain district and introduced them to each other especially in their homes.

Some became friends for years, and their children grew up together. It is a fun job when families are similar in character but can be difficult when they are very different.

These groups are still used today, and the Health Visitors are still present at the first meeting. But often mothers find each other through Facebook and meet to chat while professional groups are formed to teach how to deal with and understand babies and how to avoid being abused.

Mothers do not have the strength to visit a person who has many problems or a person who lives in a dirty and dirty house and maybe the parents were smoking in the house. The other women don’t want to mention anything about it so they only come once and the group ends. I found it very difficult when these conditions appeared when I heard about the problems of all sides.

We often had special groups or support for families who were struggling financially. In this way, we have just offered something more than “Moms Groups”. These groups were not always optional for invited families to attend.

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Yesterday I had the great pleasure of meeting one of my “mothers” at the Half Marathon. We had all finished, and suddenly we saw each other. He said:

You were my health visitor! I remember your smile and your voice!

I also remembered her and her premature twins, the months and years they were born. In late 1999, I had at least five children, and a group was formed. The mothers were very busy and I always met them as much as I could and at that time. I made video clips for the babies to come with later.

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In a few days, my article on this topic will appear in the WordPress reader.