Parent and Infant Mental Health

Midwives are there to support you with your emotional health as well as physical health.

Your midwife will discuss your mental health history with you. This will be at the booking appointment. Your midwife will assess your wellbeing throughout your pregnancy. If you've had mental health issues before, a team of experts led by a consultant will take care of you.

The health psychology team helps women and couples experiencing emotional difficulties about pregnancy, childbirth, pregnancy loss, or gynaecological issues. You can self refer, or your midwife may recommend their support for your emotional wellbeing during and after pregnancy.

Please discuss any emotional wellbeing needs with your midwife at any point. You can contact the Ask the Midwife 24 hour advice line on 0114 226 8091.

Your health visitor will visit your home when your baby is 10 to 14 days old and again at 6-8 weeks. They will check on your mental health during these visits

Appointment and drop in baby clinics are available across the city. Additional contacts are offered when required. The contacts can be virtual appointments on the ‘Attend Anywhere’ virtual platform or face-to-face home/clinic appointments.

If you are experiencing low mood, please talk to your Health Visitor about how you are feeling. They will be able to offer you advice and support for both you and your baby. You can call them on 0114 305 3224.

They also have a website

The service also has a wide range of information on the Sheffield Children’s Patient Resource Library

You can share any concerns with your GP. They can help you figure out ways to take care of your mental health while you're pregnant. They can also guide you to the right services, provide extra support, and arrange for more help if necessary.

Light is a peer support charity that offers emotional support to families during the perinatal period.

Light provides peer to peer support in the form of support groups, 1-1 sessions or via telephone, videocall or email. All staff and volunteers have personal experience of dealing with emotional or mental health challenges after birth.

To get in touch call 0114 438 8962. For more information or general enquires email or visit the Light Peer Support webpage

NHS Sheffield Talking Therapies (formerly known as IAPT).

Service helps people over 18 in Sheffield with free NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression.

Visit their website to find details on a range of courses and support on offer. They also have some useful self help resources that you can use right away to improve how you are feeling.

You can contact them by ringing the central number 0114 226 4380. Anyone can self-refer online using the online referral form. 

Take a look through their Service Booklet. 

You can also download the service booklet in the following languages; Arabic, Farsi Persian, Polish, Slovak and Urdu.

Early relationships influence the way that a baby’s brain develops. When parents and carers are able to tune in and respond to their babies’ needs sensitively, it lays the foundations for lifelong mental and physical health and helps them to:

· Grow up feeling safe, secure and ready to play, explore and learn

· Have skills to understand and manage their emotions and behaviour

· Feel confident in themselves and develop trusting relationships with others

However, not all parents and carers find this easy. Lots of things can affect how you feel about your baby and yourself as a parent, and this can get in the way of developing a positive parent-infant relationship.

Although having a baby can be a special and joyous time, it can also be challenging. Sometimes, it can feel hard to cope with your baby’s feeding, sleeping or crying, or you might have worries about how they are developing.

Parents or caregivers who did not receive sensitive care when they were young may find it harder to tune in to their baby’s needs. Other things can affect how you feel about your baby, such as:

· a traumatic pregnancy or birth

· mental health problems (such as depression or anxiety)

· loss or bereavement

· events from the past or present.

PAIRS are a team of Psychologists, Psychotherapists, Specialist Health Visitors and Infant Mental Health Practitioners who specialise in supporting parents and caregivers to build sensitive and nurturing relationships with their babies. We can work with you and your baby to strengthen your bond, and help you to understand your baby’s emotional responses and communications.

We work with any parent or significant caregiver and their babies from conception to age three. We can provide an interpreter to support you if you prefer to speak a language other than English.

If you are worried about your relationship with your baby, or whether you are meeting their needs, you can:

· Call us on 0114 3053659

· Email us at scn-tr.pairs@nhs.net

· Speak to your Midwife, Health Visitor, GP, or someone at your local Family Hub.

The Sheffield, Rotherham and Doncaster Perinatal Mental Health Service offer confidential and non-judgmental support to:

• women with mental health conditions
• women who may be developing a mental health condition

And who are:

• planning to have a baby
• already pregnant
• or have given birth in the last 12 months.

They have produced a service leaflet to explain the services they offer. To access this service, you must be referred by a health or social care worker. This can include your GP, community mental health team, midwife or health visitor. It is not possible to self-refer to this service.

Steel City Dads welcomes all Dads and Co-parents who have children from pregnancy to 2 years old. Support for Dads and Co-Parents experiencing mild mental health and/or supporting partners with perinatal mental health, birth trauma, child loss and miscarriage.

The service offers the following support:

• peer support groups
• drop in support
• email, phone, video support
• workshops online and in person
• self care tips and coping techniques
• dad chats at antenatal clinics

You can refer yourself or be referred by a healthcare professional, or someone involved with your family.

More information

Contact: Telephone: 0114 2702040 Email: steelcitydads@zestcommunity.co.uk