perinatal help - childcare??

[littlemonkeychops]

Hi, i saw the dr yesterday and am being referred to the perinatal mental health team for anxiety. I'm desperate for help but worried i'll be turned away because i have no childcare. DD (2) is in nursery 2 days a week but DD2 is only 10 weeks and breastfed (plus i've got no one who can watch her anyway.

Anyone else been in this situation and what did you do? Icrealky do need help :-(

[HoopHopes]

Hi where I am you can take your baby with you until they crawl. S why not ask for an appointment on a day your dd2 is in nursery and take your baby.

[HoopHopes]

Ps I took mine and breastfed when there. They are used to that. When they wanted to see me without the baby once or twice dp had to take holiday from work for 2 hrs in between feeds. If you get help longer than the away can go with you then you where you have to use a nursery etc or other people but that is 9 months or so away for you

[littlemonkeychops]

Thanks Hoop (and for your reply on my other thread!). That's good to hear, hopefully they'll have something similar here).

[HoopHopes]

I would ask for an appointment on day dd in nursery, even if you have to wait an extra few days for it as they are teams of people so it will not matter what day your initial appointment is on. If it is a psychiatrist appointment that may mean dh taking half a day holiday but it will help you. Then it depends if they take you on, what they offer etc so try not to worry. Mostly they offer support for a set number of months etc so hopefully you will not wait too long and will have finished support with them before you need childcare.

They can offer group support, a support worker, a named individual to be your care co-ordination, short term talking therapy, medication options, parental classes etc all depending on what the issue is for you. So do tell them what days your dd's nursery is or if they want to see you a set day perhaps her nursery day can change if it is for a term?

[littlemonkeychops]

Thanks that's all very helpful as i didn't know what to expect, can 't wait to start getting help as i'm really letting my family down at the moment :-(

[Dolallytats]

I am on the waiting list for home visit therapy for agoraphobia. It is a charity and they work round your life. They know people have kids/no childcare and will work round that.

I'm also on the waiting list for CBT at a therapy centre, but, like you, have no idea what to do with DD (almost 3 weeks) when I get an appt.

[littlemonkeychops]

Dolally, wow it's great that there's a charity offering homevisits. I hope that something works out for the CBT.

[HoopHopes]

Dolallytats it is different under a peri natal teamas here the team allows bp babies to go to appointments as often the problem is bonding etc so they like to see you with the child. I imagine if the sessions are therapy then an awake child could be an issue s it might be worth asking what the cbt person does for people with babies ... You may have to find an hour of childcare somehow ( they can probably fit you in a time not feeding) or maybe wait until you have childcare. It depends on what treatment you have. If it is support and assessment having a baby is no issue but if it is time limited sessions of cbt say then a baby could detract and I guess it depends on what you want out of the sessions. I found having a tiny baby ok in sessions but not an older one as support at the end of the day is always time limited and for me it was to get better for my child so my dp had to rearrange holiday or work times to suit ( he asked his boss for some flexible hours , ie made up lost hours) as I needed some sessions on my own.

[Jollyb]

When I saw the perinatal team I took DD to all my appointments with the consultant. I was referred for psychotherapy (which went on for a year) and arranged childcare for the afternoon. At my first session my therapist was surprised that DD wasn't with me (and tried to analyse this). She wanted to see how I interacted with her and made DD part of our sessions - ie we would discuss how I reacted when DD did something. Good luck and hope you feel better soon