How Is Dad Going? A New Website for Fathers from PANDA

Have you checked out the new How Is Dad Going website yet?

It’s fantastic to see this resource for fathers from PANDA (Post and Ante Natal Depression Association.)

On this website there are personal stories, videos from well known dads like Darren Jolly of Collingwood Football Club and breakfast radio star Matt Tilley, and practical advice and references.

The transition to parenthood is huge for fathers and mothers both. When you add in post or ante natal anxiety or depression, things get much tougher.

I love hearing men talking about their emotions at any time, and seeing blokes reach out to other blokes to share their experiences and their positive stories is really heart-warming for this mum of four.

Oh we could have done with this when I was having terrible PND many years ago. It’s amazing that our family survived intact – how grateful we are.

In Beyond The Baby Blues, the book I co-wrote with Benison O’Reilly and Gidget Foundation CEO Cathie Knox, we have a chapter called Dads and Depression. It was my job to interview fathers for this chapter.

I love some of the quotes that we were privileged to include:

The things I did not anticipate were the sheer exhaustion that quickly envelopes you. Having a newborn baby in the house is like living in a submarine: night and day no longer have any meaning. You just stagger through this four-hour cycle of feeding, sleeping, changing, and that is if things are going well and you have a four-hour cycle. 

Postnatal depression in men is not rare

In that chapter we look at how a mother’s depression affects dad, and explain the facts about perinatal anxiety and depression in fathers too.

It’s more common than you think.

How marvellous to have an online resource for fathers too. And you know what, it will help the mums too.

I’ll end with a quote I love from Beyond The Baby Blues, advice from a very experienced dad to other blokes.

Be aware of your mates who are new parents and help them out. Put out the garbage, give them a call, talk about how hard it is. Don’t get deep and meaningful, that’s not what blokes do. Just validate the feelings and then talk about rugby.

Here’s to the fathers, and to the expectant fathers especially.

What changes lie ahead, what joys and what deep lows.

Thank goodness for friends and family and for open discuss and honesty about the ups and down of parenthood!

Take it easy,