iHV on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour

This morning iHV PIMH Lead, Hilda Beauchamp, joined the BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour team to discuss the relatively under-researched area of depression associated with the end of breastfeeding.

Journalist, Alice Vincent, asked in a recent article ‘why does nobody speak about post-breastfeeding depression’, something that she experienced after she stopped breastfeeding her 18-month-old son. The response she received to her article indicates that this is a topic women wish they knew more about.

Although there are no official statistics about the number of women affected by this, what we do know is that more than 1 in 5 women develop a mental illness in pregnancy or in the first year after birth, and suicide, tragically, remains the leading case of maternal death in the first postnatal year.

With 70% of women underplaying or hiding their mental health difficulties due to stigma or fear of child removal, any opportunity to raise awareness of any mental illness associated with having a baby should not be missed. We want women to know they are not alone, that support is available, and that they can get better.

The news item on post-breastfeeding depression on today’s Woman’s Hour programme starts at 34:45 into the programme and ends at 46:11. Please go to the BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour link below for today’s episode:

Go to Woman's Hour podcast 18 November 2024

Health visiting on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour today

Dr Cheryll Adams CBE, Executive Director iHV, joined BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour today to discuss extending maternity leave for those who are new parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recently, parents of a six-month old baby launched a petition asking the government to extend maternity leave by an extra three months. They believe that the lockdown has meant parents have missed out on the usual things you’d do on maternity, putting them at a disadvantage. This lead to a House of Commons Petitions Committee discussion where Dr Adams contributed some evidence and raised the profile of the work of health visitors during COVID-19 (see our news story on this). The the signatures for the petition are still coming in – it’s not know yet whether it’ll be debated in the House of Commons but there id due to be another Q&A session on Thursday this week.

Dr Adams says:

“There are challenges for new parents under lockdown due to COVID. There’s been so much attention on hospitals and needing to treat people, that the needs of families have perhaps been forgotten – this has been a big concern of the Institute.”

And in response to concerns about the reported increase in perinatal depression, Dr Adams commented:

“My advice is that GPs are open, health visiting services are open, midwives are there, so if anyone is feeling anxious, please, please pick up the phone and call.”

The news item on extending maternity leave starts at the beginning of today’s Woman’s Hour programme and runs for about 10 minutes. You can listen to Dr Adams between 5.39 and 10.03 on the BBC Radio 4 link below:

Go to Woman's Hour podcast 19 May 2020