To expect a bit of aftercare as a brand new mum?!

[QueenOfThePumpkins]

My lovely twins were born in mid February, a month early but generally well. They lost a bit too much weight to begin with and we had a week long stay in hospital.

Since lockdown, other than vaccinations we have had no input at all from health visitor, GP, or... Anyone. No idea what their accurate weights are, though I've had a go with the bathroom scales. I have a history of anxiety and depression and was always worried about PND, but thankfully I am feeling pretty happy just now and we are all coping well. Nobody at all has asked about my wellbeing. There is a health visitor helpline, but they were really unhelpful when I called for some feeding advice. I worry that if something was amiss then nobody would know, as I am so inexperienced and nobody else sees my babies other than DH.

Of course I feel very lucky to have had my babies before all the madness really started, but I really expected to at least have someone check up on us. My point is, I really worry for other new mums who aren't coping well, and all the babies that may be vulnerable and going under the radar. Is it just my area or is this happening all over?

I had my second baby in the middle of feb. I have since developed PND (didn’t suffer with this at all with my first child). I sometimes wonder whether this may have been partly due to the lack of aftercare and ‘normal’ maternity leave experience.

Thanks so much for all the kind and supportive comments. It just helps to not feel so alone to be honest! It really does seem to be a postcode lottery, though rather poor care on the most part. Disappointing to hear.

Congratulations to those who have also got new babies, at least we've got something to keep us busy at home!

So sorry to hear that a couple of you are going through PND though, I really hope you get the support you need. My inbox is always open as a fellow new mum

This was my experience with my last DC who was born October 2018, the HV has visited me three times since he was born. She visited a few days after his birth and ranted at us about largely irrelevant shit. She was then supposed to return when he was around 4/5 months old but she just didn’t turn up. I waited in all morning for her and she pulled a no show, didn’t hear from her again until he was about 8 months old when she posted a ‘sorry I missed you card’ through my door despite not knocking or ringing our doorbell . Got in touch with her to rearrange and she did turn up the second time (and rang the doorbell ). A different HV turned up when he was 12 months and said she wouldn’t bother visiting again until he was two...

Never found them hugely supportive tbh, one of them told me to wean DC1 when he was three months old because he was a big baby ffs. They can be pretty useless.