When I first met Carly she was living in cramped conditions with her partner and his friend. All three of them were smokers so there was a very smoky atmosphere.
Carly was worried about her diet, was scared about the labour and birth and hesitant about breastfeeding. Carly and her partner also had no knowledge about the services available to them via the Children’s Centre. As they had little social support, they wanted to access groups and activities to make more local connections.
We did our visits outside of the accommodation. We talked about smoking. She set herself small and achievable goals on cutting down. She was also found to have gestational diabetes and this encouraged her to change her diet. She found the first few weeks hard and said working out what she could and couldn’t eat was challenging. However, with support she was able to manage her diet and start eating healthy and balanced meals rather than takeaways.
Both Carly and her partner felt that the male friend living in their caravan was an issue for them as they were worried they wouldn’t have space for the baby. They set themselves the goal to resolve this issue and by the time the baby was born their friend had moved out and they only smoked outside of the property.
A couple of months later Carly was looking really healthy and said she was so happy. She had lost weight and her skin and hair were glowing. She had managed to cut down to 4 cigarettes per day. She said she wanted to set a new goal and cut down some more as she had a scare that the baby was small and had to have a growth scan. She planned to continue with the healthy eating post pregnancy as she felt so much better.
We talked a lot about practical baby care. Carly was quite scared about what to expect when we first met so we spent time talking about things such as bathing, nappy changing and safe sleeping. After the baby was born, Carly said she felt more confident and seemed to have a good attachment with the baby.
I attended GP appointments with her throughout her pregnancy and helped her to access other local services. For example, we talked about what was available at the Children’s Centre and I supported access through a staggered support approach. We went together for the first time – I met Carly at her home and we walked the 40 minute journey to the centre together. The next time we met at the Children’s Centre and on the third occasion Carly went on her own with the baby and they began to attend regularly.
It’s been great to see how peer support has impacted on both Carly’s emotional and physical well-being and to see her access local services.
(Please note: names have been changed to protect identities)