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How to help my friend?

1 reply

cherrytre · 17/02/2019 12:17

Myself and my friend both have 2 year old sons and babies on the way. My friend works 2 days a week in quite a tiring stressful job. Her partner is not v supportive in general, doesn't help much with the son, is a bit clueless about how tiring it is to have toddler and be preg etc. He's not unsupportive in a nasty way iykwim. She has a lot of support with childcare from her mum and does get overnight breaks etc quite often.

Nearly every time I have met my friend she has burst into tears about small things, she tells me how hard she's finding things, how partner not helping, how she's not getting much sleep due to toddler waking etc. I feel like she has quite bad anxiety and is really finding things a struggle. She is a v sensitive person usually but it's a lot worse at the moment. Because she is so sensitive I don't want to upset her more by suggesting things could be anxiety / mental health related, and I just want to know how I could help her? I'm always here as a listening ear and I'm just wondering what else I could do to help with things as I feel a bit of a useless friend at the moment!

OP posts:
AtrociousCircumstance · 17/02/2019 12:22

Sounds like her response is completely normal. She’s pregnant with a toddler and has a useless partner. She’s stressed, hormonal, exhausted. Some women are more fatigued and emotional than others during pregnancy.

Just keep listening and being sympathetic. If there’s any practical help you can offer, offer it. Otherwise just listen and be nice and ask her how she’s feeling.

If you feel it’s strayed into ante-natal depression/anxiety maybe ask if she’s spoken to the GP/midwife about how hard she’s finding everything?

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