Why Are We Here?
Dads feel it too…
The mental health of dads and other partners can be affected by the birth of a baby. The National Childbirth Trust found that one in three first-time dads reported feeling worried about their mental health following their baby’s birth. (National Childbirth Trust 2015). Between 5-15% of dads are known to experience perinatal mental illness, including perinatal depression and perinatal anxiety (Darwin et al. 2020; Cameron, Sedov, and Tomfohr-Madsen 2016). ‘Birth trauma’, or distress in men following traumatic birth, should also be taken seriously (Etheridge and Slade 2017).
The implications for the entire family of maintaining positive mental health and wellbeing for a dad, both antenatally and postnatally are undeniable.
Perinatal mental illness in a parent contributes to an increased risk of adverse outcomes for child mental health and development (S. D. Fisher et al. 2021). Pregnant women who experience domestic abuse have been found to have a 37% higher risk of obstetric complications that warrant antenatal admission, and fetal morbidities (Kaye et al. 2006) and paternal drinking during pregnancy is measurably correlated with domestic violence and domestic abuse (Rakusen, 2024).
Evidence also shows that support from a partner (for example the baby’s dad) is a protective factor against the development of maternal perinatal mental illness, and that this support has a positive effect on outcomes for mothers who are experiencing perinatal mental illness (Darwin et al. 2020).
Yet despite this, male partner’s mental health needs are widely ‘undetected and unmanaged’ (Darwin et al. 2020), and are not prioritised in policy (Baldwin et al. 2019). Additionally, we know that most populations experience barriers to disclosing struggles with mental health. Actual figures for men experiencing perinatal mental illness are therefore likely to be much higher than recorded statistics.
The UK government’s review ‘The best start for life: a vision for the 1001 critical days’ found that many dads who did experience perinatal mental health problems did not seek support for these for fear of detracting from the health needs of their partner, or because they felt that services were there for mothers and not them (UK Government 2021). In a 2019 study, men said that they would only feel able to disclose their own mental health difficulties if they knew that services were specifically addressing their own needs as well as those of the mother (Baldwin et al. 2019).
These men valued professionals specifically engaging with them, including in conversations about their mental health and wellbeing (Baldwin et al. 2019), yet we know, that whilst most dads engage in antenatal services at some point during pregnancy, many feel unwelcome or uncomfortable (Burgess and Goldman 2018).
In June 2023, Kent County Council commissioned a piece of work to better understand the experiences of dads in the perinatal period (pregnancy and the first year or so after birth) and to support them in recognising the importance of dads’ role in a positive start to life for children.
Over 100 dads generously shared their experiences with us and the following resources are just one of the results of their dedication to improving things for dads of the future. Throughout the course you will find many unattributed quotes. All of these quotes are voices of dads from across Kent who spoke to us throughout the course of this project. We hope that through their words you will hear their powerful messages and that you will honour their dedication and expertise by following through the course Chapters and short Lessons that they wanted to share with you, who has enormous power and agency to change the way that they experience early parenthood.
Take a look at the next Lesson in this Chapter to hear from dads in Kent.
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National Childbirth Trust. 2015. “Dads in Distress: Many New Fathers Are Worried about Their Mental Health.” https://www.nct.org.uk/about-us/media/news/dads-distress-many-new-fathers-are-worried-about-their-mental-health.
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.
Cameron, Emily E., Ivan D. Sedov, and Lianne M. Tomfohr-Madsen. 2016. “Prevalence of Paternal Depression in Pregnancy and the Postpartum: An Updated Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Affective Disorders 206 (December): 189–203.
Etheridge, Jody, and Pauline Slade. 2017. “‘Nothing’s Actually Happened to Me.’: The Experiences of Fathers Who Found Childbirth Traumatic.” BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 17 (1): 80.
Kaye, Dan K., Florence M. Mirembe, Grace Bantebya, Annika Johansson, and Anna Mia Ekstrom. 2006. “Domestic Violence during Pregnancy and Risk of Low Birthweight and Maternal Complications: A Prospective Cohort Study at Mulago Hospital, Uganda.” Tropical Medicine & International Health: TM & IH 11 (10): 1576–84.
Rakusen, I. (Host) (2024, Jan 19). Source of Life (No. 2) [audio podcast episode]. In Child. BBC Sounds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001vbws
Raikes, Helen, Jean Summers, and Lori Roggman. 2005. “Father Involvement in Early Head Start Programs.” Fathering 3 (1): 29–58.
Fisher, Sheehan D., Jesus Cobo, Barbara Figueiredo, Richard Fletcher, Craig F. Garfield, Jane Hanley, Paul Ramchandani, and Daniel B. Singley. 2021. “Expanding the International Conversation with Fathers’ Mental Health: Toward an Era of Inclusion in Perinatal Research and Practice.” Archives of Women’s Mental Health 24 (5): 841–48.
Baldwin, Sharin, Mary Malone, Jane Sandall, and Debra Bick. 2019. “A Qualitative Exploratory Study of UK First-Time Fathers’ Experiences, Mental Health and Wellbeing Needs during Their Transition to Fatherhood.” BMJ Open 9 (9): e030792.
UK Government. 2021. “The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days.”
Burgess, A., and R. Goldman. 2018. “‘Who’s the Bloke in the Room?’ Fathers during Pregnancy and at the Birth in the United Kingdom (Executive Summary).” Fatherhood Institute.
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We use the term ‘dad’ to encompass the following groups who identify as male: biological fathers cohabiting with the baby’s mother or father, biological fathers who are separated from the baby’s mother or father, male partners who are not the biological father of the child but who represent a father figure, adoptive fathers and foster fathers.
The use of this term (as opposed to more generic terms such as ‘parent’ or ‘male partner’ is reflective of some of the findings of this piece of work and others, that father figures are more engaged when they are specifically addressed as such.
This work did not cover the experiences of parents who identify as female, non-binary or any other gender. This is not to minimise the importance of those experiences and the support needs of those groups, but rather to ensure that the scope of the project remained narrow enough to yield meaningful results as well as to recognise the specific difficulties that male-identifying people experience in relation to mental health, which are different to those of other populations. It is also important to note that the report regularly makes reference to mums. This is due to the fact that many of the dads who supported this work were in a heterosexual relationship and/or were co-parenting with someone who identified as a mother.