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Postnatal Support Needs of First-Time Mothers: The Role of the Midwife

Abstract:

We spent the first few days wondering what the hell we were doing - who could possibly give us this baby to look after when we had no idea what we were doing? I mean, you can be around kids, and can look after other people's kids, but I don't think anything can compare with having one 24 hours a day. The antenatal class really only takes you to birth, there's nothing - and no-one - that prepares you for what it's really like afterwards. [Theresa] Introduction: Great demands are placed on new parents following the birth of their first child, many for which they may be unprepared. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, most forms of antenatal preparation provide relatively little emphasis on the transition to parenthood and the resultant challenges likely to be faced. Consequently, first-time parents may have given only passing thought to the type of support they may need following the birth of their child, and how and where they will find this support... My goal in conducting the research (which formed the basis of a thesis for a Master of Arts (Applied) in Social Science Research) was to explore the formal and informal support made available to 12 first-time mothers.

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first-time mothers, formal and informal support networks, postnatal support, transition to motherhood