Our Perinatal Group Worker Mel Benson reflects on her first six months in post:
“This year we have supported lots of expectant and new mums through group work including Bringing Baby Home, Mums In Mind, Baby Massage and Baby/Toddler Group. The sessions run over a five or six week period allowing the building of friendships and widening the mums support networks.
Throughout the Mums in Mind sessions, we have explored many postnatal topics including infant feeding, sleep, postnatal mental health to name a few. The mums have enjoyed crafts with their little ones, creating hand/footprints and sensory bottles to take home. There has been time for the little ones to explore toys/treasure basket whilst the mums enjoy at hot drink and chat, catching up on how their weeks have been. The mums have set up WhatsApp groups with many meeting outside of the groups. Feedback has been really positive:
‘Loved the group so much. Wish I had this when my first was a baby. The warm welcome, the hot cup of tea, the crafts and the welcoming chats were fab’
‘I have enjoyed attending the groups, I’ve learnt a little more than I knew from my previous children and loved making little memories/keepsakes. Thank you Mel for your time and effort.’
During the Bringing Baby Home sessions the mums where able to set their own agenda and lead the topics they wished to cover. We covered topics such as what to pack in your hospital bag, safe sleep, infant feeding, perinatal mental health, baby care such as bathing and nappy changing. The mums completed various activities to learn around the different topics which included card sorts, videos and whole group work creating lists for hospital bags/baby equipment.
We used a more hands-on approach when exploring safe sleep and baby care with the mums using dolls and a moses basket to place baby in a safe sleeping position and dolls and a bath to have hands on experience of bathing and nappy changing. Feedback from the group has been amazing:
‘I had session on bathing baby, taking care, safe sleep, breastfeeding and I can honestly say that these helped so much because of how prepared Mel was in delivering the group sessions.’
‘Mel is great, she covered everything we raised and was fantastic, I feel ready to have my first baby because of the excellent service she has provided and calmed me through the process.’
The Baby Massage groups have allowed the mums to learn some calming techniques which they can include in their routines at home. As well as massage techniques the sessions have created a safe environment for the mums to discuss any challenges they have faced in the transition to parenthood and postnatal topics such as feeding, sleep and relationship changes. The mums have set up WhatsApp groups with many meetings-up outside of the sessions.
One mum said ‘It adds structure to an otherwise listless day and helps us make new friends and connections which is important’
The Baby/Toddler group has allowed the mums to explore a different way to interact with their little ones through song and simple yoga stretches, aiding bonding and speech/language development. The free play part of each session gives the little ones the opportunity to develop their social skills with the mums having the time to chat about how their weeks have been and to explore the varying challenges and positives of parenthood, building new friendships and widening support networks. Feedback from this group included:
‘It was so nice to attend a friendly group for me and my daughter to get out of the house and socialize.’
‘Having somewhere to be on my day off from work where my son can play and I can talk to other mums greatly improves my emotional wellbeing.’