Information
“I wanted more information about the ‘baby blues’, what to expect, what were the best things for me to be doing and saying to help, when to be worried.”
Many new or expectant dads that we spoke to were keen to centre the experiences of their partner or the birthing person. They told us that they wanted to have more information about how to better support the baby’s mum or other parent during pregnancy, birth and postnatally. Dads who had engaged in antenatal activities such as birth preparation classes generally felt better-equipped for being a supporter during labour, however dads consistently highlighted their lack of preparedness for how to provide support postnatally.
Dads who felt ill-equipped in this area identified that this had knock-on effects on their own wellbeing. Some of these dad’s described feeling ‘useless’, ‘helpless’ and ‘underprepared’ and articulated that this meant they questioned their effectiveness as a father and had a negative impact on their confidence in parenting. Areas that dads lacked confidence in providing support included postnatal recovery (physical and emotional) and feeding, particularly breast/chest-feeding.
Dads appreciated being told practical and effective ways to support both antenatally and postnatally, this enhanced their sense of wellbeing as they felt more capable and positive about their ability to make a difference.
“Nobody tells you that you might feel like a spare part once the baby is born, this is especially true if your baby is being breastfed. So more info on how to actually be helpful would be so great.”
Perinatal Mental Health
Dads’ awareness about perinatal mental illness in women and birthing people was mixed. Whilst most dads knew about about the existence of conditions such as postnatal depression, many did not know what to do or where to seek support if they should arise.
Dads who had supported a partner or baby’s mother through postnatal depression said that this was made more difficult by the fact that they had not been aware of what to look out for or had not been given information on how they could support. Dads appreciated knowing signs and symptoms of perinatal mental illness and supportive ways to manage postnatal mental health issues, including where to access professional support.
Support from a partner is a protective factor against the development of maternal perinatal mental illness, as well as having a positive effect on outcomes for mothers who are experiencing perinatal mental illness (Darwin et al. 2020), therefore when partners are underprepared antenatally and not engaged postnatally, the positive impact that dads can have risks being minimised.
Involved dads are well-placed to both notice signs of postnatal maternal mental health issues and support recovery where they occur. Ensuring that dads’ know when and where to seek support if they feel that something isn’t right for their partner or the baby’s mum is critical.
What can I do?
If you engage with dads antenatally or postnatally, checking in about how confident they feel in providing support in pregnancy, labour and beyond can be a great start. Every family is different and once you understand a little more about where a dad lacks confidence you can plan with them accordingly or signpost to the right resources.
If you’re not feeling confident on what these resources might be, then sitting down to do a little research is a great idea. Some dads valued the simplicity of Start for Life emails, which provide regular emails tailored to the stage of pregnancy or the child's age. You can find more resources in the final Chapter of this course.
If your primary role involves supporting women and birthing people, don’t forget that ensuring that dads know how to support, particularly with issues like feeding, sleep, postnatal recovery and emotional wellbeing, is likely to have a positive impact on maternal mental health and wellbeing too, as well as increasing things like breastfeeding rates and maternal-infant bonding.
“She was great, she engaged us both and explained everything. We both felt included and because of that I knew how to support, even with things like breastfeeding.”
For families where perinatal mental health issues do occur in the baby’s mum, research has shown increased levels of wellbeing in women when their male partners were included in interventions (Matthey et al. 2004; J. R. W. Fisher, Wynter, and Rowe 2010). If you work in perinatal mental health services, you could consider how dads can more routinely be brought into interventions.
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Darwin, Zoe, Jill Domoney, Jane Iles, Florence Bristow, Jasmine Siew, and Vaheshta Sethna. 2020. “Assessing the Mental Health of Fathers, Other Co-Parents, and Partners in the Perinatal Period: Mixed Methods Evidence Synthesis.” Frontiers in Psychiatry / Frontiers Research Foundation 11: 585479.
Matthey, Stephen, David J. Kavanagh, Pauline Howie, Bryanne Barnett, and Margaret Charles. 2004. “Prevention of Postnatal Distress or Depression: An Evaluation of an Intervention at Preparation for Parenthood Classes.” Journal of Affective Disorders 79 (1-3): 113–26.
Fisher, Jane R. W., Karen H. Wynter, and Heather J. Rowe. 2010. “Innovative Psycho-Educational Program to Prevent Common Postpartum Mental Disorders in Primiparous Women: A before and after Controlled Study.” BMC Public Health 10 (July): 432.