‘Baby blues’ needs to move up list of infant care priorities
A mother’s mental state is important for an infant’s early development, so advocacy around these issues is growing in SA
During the first few months of Dean Mandim’s pregnancy, she was plagued by extreme anxiety, which manifested in an obsessive-compulsive need to document everything related to her baby boy on a spreadsheet. “Instead of getting enough sleep, I would sit at the computer googling how much milk I needed to give to my baby and how often he needed to feed. I would write down how many nappies he would have to wear during the day and how many hours of sleep he would need. At the time it felt urgent and necessary and I felt extremely anxious if someone interrupted me.” Mandim went into preterm labour when she was 32 weeks pregnant and is sure now that this was due to her being anxious and paranoid. “When my son was born, at full term thanks to medical intervention, the first thing I thought was that he was giving me an evil look. Sadly I didn’t feel a strong connection to him,” said Mandim. Once home from the hospital, things got progressively worse for both mother and son. Mandim tried breas...
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