The five kinds of rest – and why they matter for new mothers

When we say ‘rest’, we don’t just mean ‘sleep’, say Sophie Walker and Jodi Wilson. Rest takes many forms and parents should consider building all of them into their lives

We live in a society that champions individualism, productivity and professional and financial success. At every turn we’re encouraged to do it all, which can make us worry that if we’re not being productive, what is our purpose?

Across two years of research, including interviews with more than 60 perinatal health specialists and hundreds of mothers on the Australian Birth Stories podcast, we learned that most mothers enter postpartum with unrealistic expectations of themselves and their bodies. Some are left feeling purposeless and questioning their worth when the work of caring for a baby doesn’t fit with the narrative of a results-driven society.

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Don’t call it morning sickness: ‘At times in my pregnancy I wondered if this was death was coming for me’

The Victorians called it ‘pernicious vomiting of pregnancy’, but modern medicine has offered no end to the torture of hyperemesis gravidarum – until now

The year my body revolted, I read all 1,296 pages of War and Peace. I did very little else. My body had become stuck in a perpetual rinse cycle, wringing itself out day and night. Becalmed on the sofa, too nauseated to mindlessly scroll, I found an unlikely emergency exit in the bloody Battle of Borodino. In between puking jags, I would prop the book open on my chest, squint at the tiny text, and drift into a Tolstoy-induced torpor. It occurred to me that clouds of saltpetre and the booming of cannon weren’t ideal conditions for a growing baby, but I had to go somewhere.

At 6am my husband left for work and I began another gruelling day on the front; purging viscous pond slime from my empty stomach and keeping up with the Cossacks on their flanking march. In the throes of extreme pregnancy sickness, I found strange comfort in the privations of 19th-century military life; in soaked bandages and musket fire and impromptu field hospital amputations. And even, or especially, in the seeming endlessness of the book itself. For the months that I starved, I lugged my starving Russian comrades with me, from the upholstery-chemical stink of the sofa to the sweet bleach-stink of the bathroom to the seamy oily-skin stink of the bed. Perhaps it was a derangement of dehydration and hormones, but I felt real solidarity with my gangrenous friends on the front – far more than with anyone in a “felt cute” sundress on the What to Expect When You’re Expecting app.

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If we’re serious about protecting pregnancies, we need to stop spraying pesticides | Letters

We must shift the conversation beyond food. These chemicals are in the air women breathe and the homes they live in, says biochemist Molly Shave

As a biochemist trained in environmental health, I was relieved to see coverage of pesticide exposure and pregnancy risk (Exposure to a mix of pesticides raises risk of pregnancy complications, study suggests, 19 July). But one key detail is missing: food is not the main route of exposure for most women, especially in urban environments.

While dietary pesticide levels are regulated, many studies – including urine biomonitoring – have shown less difference in pesticide load between children eating organic and conventional diets in cities than we would expect. Why? Because exposure is happening elsewhere.

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Eating for two: the Edith Pritchett cartoon

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Surrogates at greater risk of new mental illness than women carrying own babies, study finds

Canadian data analysis underscores importance of support during and after pregnancy, researchers say

Surrogates have a greater chance of being newly diagnosed with a mental illness during and after pregnancy than women who carry their own offspring, researchers have found.

In addition, regardless of how they conceived, women with a previous record of mental illness were found to have a higher risk of being diagnosed with such conditions during and after pregnancy than those without.

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‘I didn’t cry till the following year’: standup Thanyia Moore on the tragedy she turned into laughter

The comic was all set to make her debut at the Edinburgh fringe. Then, with hours to go, she had a medical emergency. The former dancer explains how it all fed into her new standup show

‘My first thought,” says Thanyia Moore, “was there has to be a show in this.” The comedian is talking about what happened when her debut Edinburgh festival fringe show flipped from fun into misfortune. Standups often embrace personal tragedy, spinning it all into material – and that was certainly the case with Moore, three years ago. The former dancer from London had a 10-year buildup to her first fringe show – a deliberately light introduction to her world. She’d become known as a consummate MC, won the Funny Women award in 2018, and was breaking into TV as an actor and writer. Moore wasn’t even sure she wanted to do the fringe. “I’ve never been enticed or influenced,” she says, “by what people think you should do.” But then came an offer from Soho theatre’s production arm, and the chance to prove she could build an hour of standup from scratch persuaded her to head to Scotland.

Compared to other debutantes – who are generally battling crushing financial and career pressures – Moore felt relaxed. Her show’s run was paid for, she’d had time to finesse it, and she’d just got to grips with some huge personal news: she was pregnant. She decided to keep this to herself, but take it easy, turning down other gigs to focus on her solo show.

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Half of black women in UK who raise concerns during labour did not receive suitable help, study finds

Maternity experiences of more than 1,000 pregnant people found black women up to four times more likely to die in childbirth

Almost half of pregnant black women raised concerns to healthcare professionals during labour, with half saying that their concerns were also not properly addressed, according to the largest report of its kind.

Black women in the UK are up to four times more likely to die during childbirth compared with their white counterparts, and are also more likely to experience serious birth complications and perinatal mental health illnesses.

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