West Suffolk Hospital launches Birth Reflections service to help support new parents

A new service aimed at supporting parents after giving birth has been launched at West Suffolk Hospital.

Birth Reflections is run by midwives and gives parents the chance to discuss their birth experience after the first weeks of new parenthood.

New parents are now invited to contact the hospital six weeks after giving birth to arrange a time to meet the midwifery team, to discuss their birth experience or prepare for a future birth.

Lynne Saunders, head of midwifery, said: “I’m really pleased we are able to offer this service. Sometimes a birth can be complicated and not what a new mum or a partner expects it would be.

“We believe it is important for us to be able to review the experience with new parents once the dust has settled, so we can answer any of their questions and go through their clinical notes if they’d like us to.

“It is a very physical and life-changing experience and we’re here to make sense of it and direct our new parents to other services and support if necessary.”

Midwife Robyn Harris, who was instrumental in setting up the service, said: “Women are sometimes misdiagnosed with postnatal depression when in fact they have post-traumatic stress disorder.

"The act of giving birth can sometimes be really scary and difficult and we want to encourage our new mothers to feel there is a safe space where they can talk about it.

“It can also be really traumatic for a partner and we are there for both of them.”

Lynne added: “We hope this service will help many new parents.

"I’m delighted we can help to support not just their physical care but their mental wellbeing, too.”