Latest findings show Dads high stress levels
While it’s stressful for both parents, a recent study has found that fathers feel more pressure after a premature baby is brought home.
Up until now, little research had been done into the impact having a premature baby has on dads. The latest findings show that on top of worrying about the health implications for their children, men feel additional stress to look after their partner and baby, and keep the household running.
“We do a great job of preparing these babies to go home. Have we prepared the parents well enough to send them home?”
As part of the study, he assessed survey results from 86 parents examining their stress levels. Their cortisol levels, an indication of stress, were also measured. Saliva tests were taken three times – on day one, five and 14 days after the baby came home from the hospital. High levels of cortisol are an indication of stress.
What he discovered was dads, while not admitting to being stressed, had higher levels of cortisol than their partners.
“They are actually internally feeling more stress than what they were reporting. That has lots of significance,” Dr Garfield said.
“We need to find other ways to get at what dad is experiencing.”
Read the full article on stuff here
INFORMATION THAT MAY HELP
Information is power. We’ve provided a number of resources to help parents through their neonatal journey. Our ‘Tips for Dads’ resource provides a number of tips written by fathers who have been through a neonatal journey. You can read it here: Tips for Dads
Also, here’s some useful resources on activities to consider when on a neonatal journey. These can help you bond with your baby, help with the stress of the journey, and support your partner:
The benefits of knitting
Kangaroo cuddles
Reading to your baby
Thanks so much for sharing your personal story!
We get a lot of positive feedback from families in a neonatal unit who read these stories and feel strength, hope and positivity knowing that they are not alone going through these experiences and feeling certain emotions.
If you would like to discuss sharing the story of your neonatal journey, we’d love to hear from you.
Support Us
If you want to help our support of families going through the stress and anxiety of a neonatal journey, you can donate via the link below.
- The Little Miracles Trust provides support to families of premature or sick full-term babies as they make their journey through Neonatal Intensive Care, the transition home, and onwards. We do not receive any Government funding and are entirely reliant on the generosity of individuals, companies and organisations in the form of donations, value-in-kind donations, grants, sponsorship and fundraising events to supplement operating costs and fund our services and initiatives.
- As we are a registered charity (CC56619) with Charities Services New Zealand we will send you an IRD compliant tax receipt – this will happen automatically by return email.