Samantha Valentine first wrote for The Early Hour while in the grips of postnatal depression. Now, a year on, she discusses the difficult journey she’s been on towards a recovery, of sorts….
birth
Family
Rebecca Schiller on her new book – Your No Guilt Pregnancy Plan. “It’s my way of countering some of the judgement, bullshit, guilt and narrow representations of motherhood that are out there.”
Work Life
Motherhood may impact a woman’s career but it doesn’t have to destroy it. In fact, The Early Hour’s editor, Annie Ridout, found hers blossomed after giving birth. Here, she argues against the idea that babies are a barrier to your career…
Family
With the natural birth movement challenging the more medicalised model of birth, new mothers are feeling as if they’ve failed if they have an epidural, or need medical intervention during childbirth. Emma Svanberg explains why this is a feminist issue…
Family
With hypnobirthing classes on the rise and the NHS pushing for more mums to have homebirths, there’s a pressure to ‘achieve’ a so-called natural birth. But it’s not the only way. Annie Ridout discusses her highly medicalised births, and why she’s happy they panned out that way…
Wellbeing
Childbirth elicits fear in most first-time mums – will it be painful? How will I cope? This is why hypnotherapy classes, promising drug-free pain relief, have taken off in recent years. Juliet Forsyth puts forward her argument for personalised hypnobirthing…
Wellbeing
Women and girls are often told that their worth is based on appearance. Beauty alone is seen as a sign of success. But Annie Ridout wants her daughter to believe that she can be active, involved and powerful – no matter what size her waist is…
Family
“If I could go back in time, I would have got more breastfeeding support from the start and also been more honest about suffering from postnatal depression and needing help.” Emma Paton, mother and blogger, opens up…
Wellbeing
Can hypnosis help mothers to give birth pain-free? Emma Sheppard speaks to the experts and the women using this technique, and looks into where hypnobirthing originated (clue: the 1800s, before anaesthesia)…
Family
The editor, Annie Ridout, gave birth to a baby boy last week. In this poem she reflects on new motherhood – second time round – with a particular focus on extended family and the importance of their roles…