Emotional health and wellbeing: A guide for pregnant women, new mums and other carers

This handbook from Beyond Blue provides information about the first twelve months of parenthood.

Becoming a parent can be one of the most exciting and challenging things you will ever do. From the moment you find out you and your partner are expecting a baby, you’ll notice your life starts to change. Although life will never be exactly the same again, you will learn something new each day, which can enrich your life and make you have all kinds of intense feelings. This is one of life’s adventures! Some experiences with your baby will fill you with love, joy, delight and surprise. At other times, you might feel stressed, frustrated, angry and even disappointed. All these feelings are common and you might find yourself going through them all in a single day.

This handbook covers some of the common emotional challenges faced by new and expectant parents, and offers practical advice for partners on how to deal with these challenges. As well as this, you‘ll find information on topics that some partners may identify as being trivial, but actually have a large impact on your mental wellbeing if they’re ignored. Adjusting your work schedule, ways to bond with your new baby, helping your partner through exhaustion and heightened emotions, and getting to know your partner again – including post-baby intimacy – are all covered
in this booklet.

Beyond Blue recognises that families come in many different forms. This booklet primarily focusses on new fathers, however all new parents will find the information in this resource useful.