Talking to friends or whānau members about how you’re feeling when you’re expecting a baby can help relieve some worries.
This helps parents, and it helps baby too who ‘feels’ mum’s anxiety via the stress hormones circulating through her bloodstream — and theirs — when mum is stressed.
When you share your feelings with others and ask how they felt and what worried them, you may find they experienced similar feelings.
How to do it
Choose someone to talk with that you trust.
Ask open-ended questions such as:
What do you remember about being pregnant?
What did you worry about?
How did you tell your parents?
Why did you decide to…?
Share what you’ve been noticing in yourself and ask if they experienced something similar.
Ask about their parenting struggles and how they overcame them, or what helped them.
