Melodies for Mums
“I would recommend singing groups to any new mum. People don’t realise how powerful the arts can be for your mental health.”
Are you a new mum? Becoming a parent is one of the most challenging things we can do. Broken sleep, breastfeeding, changes to your body. Add to that the challenges of Covid-19, and you may feel like everything’s just a bit too much.
But what do you do when life with your new baby isn’t quite as rosy as everybody said it was going to be? What if you can’t stop worrying, you feel isolated, or your mood is consistently low?
People often refer to that feeling as the “baby blues” and it usually lasts for the first few weeks after birth. If it continues longer than that, you might have, or be at risk of postnatal depression (PND).
“I’m singing to Teddy so much more now, and now have words to the songs. It’s amazing, even though Teddy is only 4 months old I can really notice the changes in his mood when I’m singing to him. If he starts off a little grumbly, I can stop him in his tracks with singing, it is so wonderful.”
PND is more prevalent than you might think. It affects more than 1 in 10 women within the first year of giving birth, and that’s only the ones we know about. There will be lots of women out there who never tell a soul about how they’re feeling. Perhaps they write it off as just anxiety. Or maybe they struggle to ask for help, because they feel that means they’re failing at the parenting game (spoiler: they’re not).
In 2016, the Royal College of Music and Imperial College took 150 mothers with symptoms of PND and gave them ten weeks of care. The mums were split randomly into three groups and were offered the usual care, standard social groups, or social singing sessions.
The study found that the social singing groups had significantly faster improvements in their symptoms, and astonishingly, about three quarters of the participants had recovered from their symptoms within the ten-week period, which was about a month earlier than either of the other groups
As well as reducing symptoms, group singing sessions were found to increase mothers’ confidence, reduce feelings of isolation and help them bond with their babies. The study also identified singing sessions as a meaningful way of engaging mothers with a minority background, who are typically less likely to seek mental health support.
Breathe Arts Health Research currently run Melodies for Mums, a ground-breaking singing service, based on this pioneering research. Groups of 10–15 women, experiencing symptoms of PND, come together and sing on a weekly basis.
There’s no ‘wind the bobbin up’ or ‘hop little bunnies’ on the menu though. Instead, songs range from folk to gospel, in a number of different languages and sung in three-part harmonies, and workshops are led by a specialist arts and health musician. The babies get a lot out of the sessions, but the focus is firmly on the mums and their health and wellbeing. It’s a joyful experience, in which women who’re undergoing some serious challenges leave their problems at the door and come together in uplifting, life-enhancing song.
It’s hard to carve out time to practice self-care when you’re a new mum but singing is something you can do while involved in other daily tasks and is a meaningful way of supporting your maternal mental health while benefiting your baby as well.
“There were things I needed to look at and I didn’t realise before I started. The sessions really increase your energy level and mood which is vital when you have a baby. They reminded me that as a mum, you have to count yourself as important. You can’t neglect yourself.”
Due to COVID-19, everything’s a little different right now and classes are currently online, but participants still report a meaningful boost to their wellbeing.
New mothers experiencing anxiety, low mood, stress, loneliness and depression, can sign up for 6 weeks of free online sessions with Melodies for Mums. Click on a link below for further information.