Why mums are being left 'isolated' and 'alone' over the summer
By Victoria Owens|
For most people the summer break is full of dreamy days in the sun and long nights out with friends and familyกญ basically a good ol' time.
But for a lot of new mums, summer can be the most crippling time of the year, when essential services shut down and they're left without proper help until schools and businesses go back to normal hours.?
For mums who give birth in December, that can be close to two months without help.
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That's an awfully long wait for access to a regular GP, mental health services, parenting advice services and in some cases baby nurse clinics.
That's exactly the situation Emma Britton found herself in, with her first-born in 2013 and again with her second in 2018, after both children arrived right in the busy December holiday period.
As a result Britton suffered through postnatal depression twice, finding that the services she needed were either stretched to the limit or unavailable entirely.
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She first noticed the lack of support when she began to have problems with breastfeeding while recovering from a traumatic birth that resulted in a fourth-degree tear.
The new mum had been promised that she'd "be visited by a midwife every day for a week", but that led to even more problems.
"Due to the Christmas period, I was sent a different nurse every day, who gave me different information to the one before and told me everything I was told was 'wrong'."
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"Between this and managing a life-altering injury, I became highly anxious almost immediately [and] after a few days I received a phone call to let me know that all the staff had gone on holidays, and there wasn't anyone to visit me."
She was also told that the baby nurse clinics would be shut and she wouldn't be able to get an appointment until February.
So she tried a nearby GP who told her "there isn't much he could do" and that she "just needed someone to hold the baby" so she could get some sleep.?
This was not the advice she was after.
In desperation, Britton tried a number of parenting helplines, but she was continually faced with message banks and answering machines all saying they'd be closed until January.
That's when she started to feel really alone in what she was going through.
"I stopped eating and sleeping and cried a lot.. I felt so alone, and that no one in the world could possibly help me."
Without knowing what else to do, she presented to an Emergency department but was once again told " there was not much that could be done", and was advised to "get a referral for mental health support once services reopened".
Not knowing who else to turn to, she moved back in with her parents until she could get proper support when services resumed in mid-February.
"I was eventually given a place at an outpatient perinatal mental health service, and was
diagnosed with perinatal depression (PND) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."
So five years later when she fell pregnant again with another child due in December, her anxiety returned and what she went on to experience was like groundhog day.
"I alerted the nursing staff, who handed me numbers for people to call, and again, found nothing but answering machines telling me that most services wouldn't reopen till mid-January, including my own GP."?
Britton said all those feelings of "absolute isolation, feeling trapped and unable to go anywhere" came flooding back.
Even the outpatient service she attended previously was closed until mid January - and when she called she "cried so hard down the phone, the receptionist took pity" and got her in immediately.?
PANDA CEO Julie Borninkhof says sadly Britton isn't alone in her experience, with an increase of calls to and from their service during the summer period.?
"People can experience isolation because their health care providers, their psychologists or their GPs are harder to get to or [have] gone on leave."
PANDA delivers and receives more than 3,600 calls in December and January alone.
Borninkhof says the majority of callers share that "they're feeling abandoned and isolated and needing to fend for themselves".
Britton was one of those callers to PANDA after her second-born and says she received invaluable advice and support.
"I spent a long time on the phone to a beautiful counsellor, who listened to me cry, spoke words of reassurance and then sent me through a list of available GPs in my area that were open."
She goes on to say "after this, I received regular phone calls and also phoned themกญ sometimes just sitting down and feeling like someone was hearing me, helped me get through that day".
Britton, now a mum-of-three hopes by sharing her story, she can help other mums who find themselves in a similar situation of feeling shut out by the shutdown period.
Her advice is to start by "reaching out for help"กญ and if all else fails "persist".
"It may not come immediately, but continue to reach out until you get what you need."
Perinatal mental health support is available from the PANDA National Helpline on 1300 726 306.
