The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in London, England: An online focus group study

Emily H Emmott; Astor Gilliland; Anjana Lakshmi Narasimhan; Sarah Myers

doi:10.1007/s10389-023-01922-4

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in London, England: An online focus group study

Z Gesundh Wiss. 2023 May 15:1-13. doi: 10.1007/s10389-023-01922-4. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Emily H Emmott¹, Astor Gilliland¹, Anjana Lakshmi Narasimhan², Sarah Myers^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ UCL Anthropology, University College London, 14 Taviton St, London, WC1H 0BW England.
² UCL Medical School, University College London, London, England.
³ Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England.
⁴ BirthRites Lise Meitner Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.

Abstract

Aims: This study examines the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in England, with the aim of identifying opportunities to improve maternal experience and wellbeing. The postpartum/postnatal period is widely acknowledged as a time when mothers require greater levels of support from multiple sources. However, stay-at-home orders, commonly known as "lockdown," deployed in some countries to limit COVID-19 transmission reduced access to support. In England, many postpartum mothers navigated household isolation within an intensive mothering and expert parenting culture. Examining the impact of lockdown may reveal strengths and weaknesses in current policy and practice.

Subject and methods: We conducted online focus groups involving 20 mothers living in London, England, with "lockdown babies," following up on our earlier online survey on social support and maternal wellbeing. We thematically analysed focus group transcripts, and identified key themes around Lockdown Experience and Determinants of Lockdown Experience.

Results: Participants raised some positives of lockdown, including fostering connections and protection from external expectations, but also raised many negatives, including social isolation, institutional abandonment, and intense relationships within the household. Potential reasons behind variations in lockdown experience include physical environments, timing of birth, and number of children. Our findings reflect how current systems may be "trapping" some families into the male-breadwinner/female-caregiver family model, while intensive mothering and expert parenting culture may be increasing maternal stress and undermining responsive mothering.

Conclusions: Facilitating partners to stay at home during the postpartum period (e.g., increasing paternity leave and flexible working) and establishing peer/community support to decentre reliance on professional parenting experts may promote positive postpartum maternal experience and wellbeing.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01922-4.

Keywords: COVID-19; Expert Parenting; Intensive Mothering; Lockdown; Maternal Wellbeing; Postnatal; Postpartum.