Covid Babies: How pandemic health measures undermined pregnancy, birth and early parenting
About this ebook
Covid Babies: how pandemic health measures undermined pregnancy, birth and early parenting considers how policies put in place to protect us from the immediate threat of the virus ultimately had the unintended consequence of harming many who needed maternity and postnatal care. It highlights how hard-won gains, even when supported by overwhelming evidence, can be lost at the drop of a hat in a crisis.
By learning the lessons of the pandemic – through close examination of the evidence base that is now emerging – Amy Brown shows how we can begin to move forward and unravel what has gone wrong. This is no easy task when our health services continue to face significant challenges, but one that is necessary to ensure the health and wellbeing of our new families and those who care for them.
About the author
Professor Amy Brown is based in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Social Sciences at Swansea University in the UK where she is Director of 'LIFT' - the centre for Lactation, Infant Feeding and Translation. With a background in psychology, she first became interested in the many barriers women face when breastfeeding after having her first baby. Three babies and a PhD later she has spent the last fifteen years exploring psychological, cultural and societal barriers to breastfeeding, with an emphasis on understanding how we can shift our perception of breastfeeding from an individual mothering issue, to a wider public health problem.
Professor Brown has published over 100 papers exploring the barriers women face in feeding their baby during the first year. In 2016 she published her first book Breastfeeding Uncovered (new edition 2021), followed by Why Starting Solids Matters; (2017), The Positive Breastfeeding Book (2018), Informed is Best (2019) and Why Breastfeeding Grief and Trauma Matter (2019).
She is a regular blogger, aiming to change the way we think about breastfeeding, mothering and caring for our babies.
