You’re not alone. Experiences of abuse are more common than you can imagine Abuse is a family secret that prevents
even be angry with your baby. It may
a child from being a child. If you had
also be the case that pregnancy doesn’t
a lot of difficult experiences in your
mean anything much to you, and that
childhood, you may have missed out on
you can’t prepare yourself for being a
the care you needed. This may make
parent. You may find it difficult to bond
it difficult for you to care for your own
with your baby.
child. For example, you may find it
You may be acting in a way that
unbearable when your baby cries or
is harmful to your baby, such as
needs you all the time.
missing baby’s check up appointments,
Pregnancy can feel uncomfortable.
forgetting to take care of yourself or
It may be frightening, or you may
using alcohol or drugs.
d ou t be in g to o ti re Ab us e is of te n ab e, owle dg e, ig no ra nc to co pe , la ck of kn ig en ce . mp et en ce or ne gl he lp le ss ne ss , in co rm th ei r ch ild. s in te nt io na lly ha nt re pa s me ti me So