Dear All,

Thanks to those of you that completed the Pregnancy Questionnaire on the site. We received 115 responses. The quality of these responses was fantastic, so many additional comments added by so many of you. The replies have been so fantastic that it has enabled us to develop a New Pregnancy section much quicker than we expected-so thanks again!

Below is a summary of the main findings:

Amoung the Questions posed in the Questionnaire, mothers were asked which trimester of the pregnancy had proved hardest for them.

52% stated that the first trimester was most trying, with sickness, tiredness being named as the most trying elements of this first period of pregnancy. The third trimester received 38% of the votes. Anxiety about the baby’s health, work stress and tiredness all being mentioned by respondents as key problems during this period of pregnancy.

We received some very interesting responses to the question regarding ‘What you wish you had known before having a baby’.

Some common themes emerged:

Breastfeeding:

I didn’t have a clue just how difficult breastfeeding would be and how tired I would feel and that I would feel so low for so long.

Post natal depression:

Nothing prepared me for the sheer panic and desperation I felt about 6 days after the birth of my first child.

The ‘crying’:

I know it sounds crazy, but I was completely unprepared to deal with a persistently crying baby.

Prepared for the birth …but not for being a Parent

I knew everything about the birth but very little about ongoing parenting skills.

Some new parents were brutally honest about how much extra Parenting information they were willing to take in prior to the birth of their first born:

Unfortunately, until you are in that position, people can tell you till you are blue in the fact about how difficult it will be, but you still go ahead!.

However, most still wished that they had been better prepared for the realities of Parenting and this led on to the Question of how ante and post natal service could be improved.

Some respondents were entirely happy with the current ante natal classes offered at their local hospital:

I attended all the ante natal classes at my local hospital and was very satisfied with the information I received.

However, many more people felt that the ante natal classes focussed too much on the ‘baby’ and ‘the birth’ as opposed to their needs as parents and helping them develop ongoing parenting skills.

99% of the advice was centred on telling you how to cope with a few distressing hours - the birth and a tiny amount of time on the parenting skills. In reality this is what you need, those few hours in labour are over so quickly. The parenting goes on forever.

This view was echoed time and again by other parents:

I wish there had been more real life facts. What parents should expect to happen with their baby-emotionally and physically and to themselves as well.

One mother-to-be who is currently in the middle of her ante natal classes said:

I have lots of worries not being covered in the ante natal classes-6 weeks do not seem enough to cover everything.

Some parents praised the more in depth and more ‘parent’ focussed classes run by the NCT and wondered why these shouldn’t be available free to all parents . Others found different ways of supplementing this information:

I found chatting to others in the same situation very helpful and I am not sure that formal support can be improved.

Overall, the responses to the Questionnaire reinforced the feedback from you that more ‘parent’ oriented information about Pregnancy is needed and that sometimes this information is best provided by other parents, rather than from health professionals. Hence the reason why we have launched our new Pregnancy section. Please visit the section and let us know your views so that it can be improved still further to meet your needs.

Thanks again.