This damn pandemic is putting a stop to many human activities but thank goodness couples are still making babies. In normal times the arrival of a new baby is a time of great joy when families naturally want to get together to congratulate the mother and welcome the newcomer.
Sadly though, these are not normal times and, while the joy is still there, social distancing has ruled out family gatherings and some mothers are missing the social interaction of showing their baby off to visitors calling with gifts and well wishes.
They are also missing out on the support of other women through informal support groups and the upshot of all this is that many are feeling lonely and isolated.
Now however the Genesis Programme, which cares for the needs of parents and young children in County Louth, has come up with an idea to help alleviate this isolation.
They have started a campaign called ‘Get in the Picture’ which seeks to involve mothers of new babies (new born to six months) sending a photo of themselves with the baby.
“We want to highlight this special time and offer support” said Annemarie Ó Murchú who is the First three Years Initiative Development Officer with The Genesis Programme.
“The photos will be shared on The Genesis Programme Social Media sites. We have already received a lot of interest in the campaign and the feedback is very positive. Everyone loves to see a photo of a mother and their baby.
“The closing date for photos is 5th March. At the end of the campaign a large display of the 100 photos will be available to view in the local county libraries.
Jean Mc Carron from Hillview is one of the mothers who has taken part in the campaign, she has shared photos of herself with three month old daughter Maya and her son Ezra who is two and a half (see photo above).
Jean says she had prepared in advance and actually finds caring for a baby during lockdown is less stressful than in normal times.
“Maybe it’s because Maya is my second child but she and I are both very relaxed about things” Jean told Drogheda Life.
“Obviously Maya doesn’t know anything about the coronavirus, this is normal for her, we just get on with things. We share photos around the family and now we’ve shared with the other mothers in the programme.
“I think it is valuable to the mothers to realise that we are all going through the same thing, we’re all doing this together but separately.”
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