The transition into parenthood is a vulnerable time for women. A mother’s mental health can negatively affect the development of her baby and this can be especially problematic during the ‘First 1 000 Days’ of her child’s life, which plays a vital role in allowing him or her to grow up to be happy, healthy and well‐adjusted[1].
Support from others can help to lower feelings of depression and anxiety in a new mother by boosting her sense of self-esteem and competence as a parent[2], and by making her feel less isolated. Embrace is a national movement to help create connected, supported and celebrated motherhood journeys for all women in South Africa. In this learning brief, we explore key lessons that helped Embrace evolve from a programmatic, city-wide initiative into a national movement for motherhood.
Download the Embrace learning brief here or page through it in ISSUU below – choose full-screen mode [ ] for a better reading experience. You can download the full Hands-on Learning publication (Issue 13) here.
Footnotes:
[1] Ilifa Lanbantwana. 2017. The First 1000 Days of Life Factsheet. Access at: http://ilifalabantwana.co.za/wpcontent/uploads/2017/07/THEFIRST-1000-DAYS-OF-LIFE.pdf
[2] McLeish, J. & Redshaw, M. 2017. Mothers’ accounts of the impact on emotional wellbeing of organised peer support in pregnancy and early parenthood: a qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 17:28. Access at: https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-017-1220-0