Quick and easy survey with the chance to win £150 toys from revilotoys.co.uk

[carriemumsnet]

Hi all

Another quick and easy survey to complete, with the chance to win £150 toys from from fab and funky online toy store revilotoys.co.uk just in time for some early Christmas shopping

We've been asked by Maria Miller, shadow minister for the family, to find out what sort of support you had from family, friends, NHS health professionals and any other help you may have used in the first two weeks after giving birth.

The survey is open to any parent living in the UK who has had a child in the past ten years and everyone who completes the survey will be entered into the prize draw.

here's the link

Good luck!

I hate the idea of someone unknown coming in and helping with the kids/cooking meals etc. Would feel it a massive violation of privacy, at a time when you need to be just with your family (imo).

What would have benefited me would have been dh taking more than 2 days off work. I know there is paternity leave now, but we could not afford to take it - we wouldn't have been able to pay our mortgage that month.

What twaddle. The Netherlands is a high tax, high spend economy. We are a low tax, low spend economy. Cameron's apparent belief that we can cherrypick ideas that work there and apply them here without instigating broader social and economic change is poppy cock. Or pappekak, as I believe the Dutch say.

why are all the good comps uk only?

Tortoiseshell has a poit; many would benefit from full paid paternity leave for 2 weeks over the helper. This wouldnt support lne parents obv, but again that could be dealt with by a joint agency investment in homestart r something similar.

Have found myelf that at 1, 2 weks I was elated and could have done anything. It is now, at 23 weeks with a non-sleeper, that am needing it.

Would have appreciated help with grocery shopping and housework and breastfeeding with 1st baby so would have to be a well trained cleaner!

I agree with those who have talked about having help later on. I had PND after ds and I really struggled. Extra help during that time would have been an absolute godsend for me.

In the early weeks I would have loved more sleep, but at the same time I wanted to do everything for my baby so would not have wanted anyone there iykwim.

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'In-house' BF support would have been great with ds1.

And any help after a CS is welcome tbh!

done it but as usual think it was poorly constructed - why on earth don't they test run these bloody questionnaires first?

longer paid, parental leave for partners would be better, 2 weeks isn't long enough especially if a little newbie gets poorly

Could have done with that extra help when i had the twins - instead of being kept in hospital 5 days because i 'wasn't coping' (and why wasn't i coping - because nobody was helping me learn how to feed my DTDs )

Hey thumbwitch - do say what you think was poor about the construction of the survey - we are always keen to improve.

Can't get back to it to be able to quote accurately but I thought it would have been more useful to ask what help you DID receive in terms of housework/cleaning/ cooking etc., maybe as well as what you would like to have received and then also what you would have liked to receive more of - I answered that first question as though it were asking what help I had received, because I got the help I needed from my DH and MIL (mostly), although there were areas that could have been improved.

I always come out of questionnaires thinking I have had to compromise answers to fit the questions that have been asked - do you test run them first on yourselves to see how you would answer them?

Hope that has been helpful as opposed to a pedantic rant!

Yes we all do them before we publish - and fiddle quite a lot as a rule - you should see how they start out! But we'll certainly make a note to fiddle more.
Thanks for the input.

Done.

Again, feel breastfeeding support would need to be someone extremely well qualified and patient, my MW and HV were both next to useless. And longer paid time for partners would be the best option for me - like others, we thought we couldn't afford the drop in income for the 2 weeks so hubby was back to work the day after i came home. If i had my time over again, i'd put it all on cards and keep him home with me to help!

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I am another one who doesn't have family close by, and even though my ds was 2 months early and I had midwife and then HV visits quite a lot for the first few weeks, they weren't much use for practical help, more just to see if I was 'OK'. Here I was, baby born prematurely, after my DS1 was stillborn, having bf issues and premature baby to deal with - you'd just think I would have been offered a little more support than someone popping in for 10 minutes to coo at the baby and weigh him.

What I could have done with is

• A member of the neonatal team to come and visit me a couple of times at least in my home (someone more qualified to deal with premature babies).

• Expert bf help on hand for someone who couldn't get out of the house due to preemie.

• Someone to supply "meals on wheels" for us for the first few weeks (we'd have happily paid) so that I didn't have to live on fresh air!

I don't feel like the maternity nurse idea would work in the UK for the same reasons as others have mentioned.

yeah...with 2 kids and a broken coccyx I would ve loved a helper!!

Hmmm not sure about helper thing, in principle a great idea, but if it was something I was paying for I'd rather just have my own cleaner I'd chosen myself come in to help. Mind you, I'm a bit picky, I got twitchy just watching my mum hoover really badly after I'd had ds, so I'd been breaking out in a rash watching a stranger doing things badly

done

just to let you all know that this survey has now closed. thanks for taking part and for all your comments