Joined in 2023 
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Remember, too, that the health visitor service is not only for Mum, but for Dad as well, even if you're not all living together. There are a number of issues that often get overlooked when it comes to mens’ relationship breakdowns and subsequent single-parenting including domestic abuse, access, financial agreements, bullying, anxiety, depression, and loneliness – advice, services and support are tailored towards your situation and your needs.
During that postnatal period, my personality changed. I remember punching the sofa, I bust my hand. I was avoiding situations. I was using alcohol… I couldn’t tell my wife how I was feeling because I didn’t want that to impact on her mental health. And I was actually having suicidal thoughts in the postnatal period as well. But as a man I was told just to man up and get on with it. “What have you got to be depressed about? You didn’t give birth to the baby.” I was more concerned about my wife. the barriers and challenges that can be faced when trying to engage with and offer support to male dads and many other emotions. Above all, his head will be spinning, and yet he will more than likely be expected to take on board – on behalf of his whole, new family – lots of new and complex information.At the end of January, we went live in Nottinghamshire, having been commissioned by the Perinatal Psychiatrist Service within Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. An average of 10.4% of fathers are depressed both pre- and post-natally, with the peak time for fathers’ depression being between three and six months post-birth (Paulson & Brazemore, 2010) By giving dad his own copy of the DPNN, he always has the resource on hand to refer to – no need to wait for the ‘loan’ copy to become free, or to worrying about hogging it when others might want to access the information. Having hard copy DadPads and the DadPad app available for frontline health professionals to use alongside expectant dads and new fathers can go some way to plugging some of these gaps and help fulfil the ‘Think Family’ and safeguarding expectations. regarding the frequency of domestic violence/intimate partner violence (IPV) within families. Whilst there are conflicting statistics as to its prevalence/increase/escalation during pregnancy, IPV does, of course, constitute a serious health risk, and maternity staff should not be put off from seeking to engage with expectant dads for fear of (e.g.) overwhelming the local support services and/or putting themselves at risk. The fact that IPV may be present within a relationship is a core reason to ensure that that man is engaged with, in the best interests of his partner, his family and the maternity services.
Hook, JL & Wolfe, GA (2012) New Fathers?: Residential Fathers’ Time with Children in Four Countries. [ online] Gloucestershire: https://www.gloshospitals.nhs.uk/about-us/news-media/press-releases-statements/dads-gloucestershire-can-now-prepare-parenthood-new-free-app-called-dadpad/ As a new non-birthing parent, it’s common to feel excited – but also left out, unsure or overwhelmed. Traditional sources of information for new parents are commonly written for birthing mums For now, though, we wanted to first of all let you know that we’ve been working with a range of experts in the field of LGBTQI+ parenting – both in terms of being professionals and/or having lived experience – across the UK to draft and now finalise our Co-ParentPad. Aimed to be a complementary resource to sit alongside our existing DadPad products – which have been purposely and specifically written to meet the needs to new male dads and dads-to-be who are having a baby with a female partner – the CPP is for LGBTQI+ non-birthing parents. As well as covering all the topics that our expert contributors asked for, the CPP’s imagery shows a spectrum of LGBTQI+ parents, uses neutral pronoun references and inclusive language to give a non-gestational parent information on how to prepare for and help care for their partner in labour, how to care for their new baby, and what to expect in the early days of being a new family. It’s also important to talk to those around you – including, of course, baby’s mum – about what they should be looking out for in you. Kieran encourages dads-to-be and new dads to “ keep open the lines of communication with the people closest to you to recognise possible changes in [your] behaviour.”
Kiernan, K (2006) Non-residential fatherhood and child involvement: evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study. [ online]
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