This month, we’re giving away a luxury eight-piece carrycot and pushchair bundle, worth £699 MY ESSENTIALS We chat to presenter Anna Williamson about mental health, baby brands, and welcoming her new arrival

Anna loves to dress her newborn daughter up in H&M’s super-cute babywear Cotton romper suit £14.99, hm.com

Anna and husband Alex welcomed their second child, Eleanora in December 2019

MY ESSENTIALS

Enzo has taken to the big brother role with ease

Congratulations on the birth of your daughter, Eleanora! How’s it all going? Thank you! The last six weeks have been brilliant – I’m very much in my baby bubble and Eleanora and I bonded instantly. She’s an absolute joy, and I’m really enjoying motherhood.

How has your three year old, Enzo, taken to having a sister? He adores her and is embracing his new role as a big brother, which is wonderful as I was a bit concerned that he wouldn’t. He’s constantly trying to kiss and hug her, which is very sweet.

We chat to the presenter about mental health, baby brands, and welcoming her new arrival ANNA WILLIAMSON

that my body would know what was right in the moment and just go with the fl ow, which really took the pressure o‚ . I also took more time to relax, and I did pregnancy yoga and practised hypnobirthing, and I ended up really enjoying it. How were you supported emotionally this time? The whole experience was completely di‚ erent, because I had access to the mental health support I needed. I had some counselling sessions, just to readdress any fl ashbacks or

You su ered perinatal and postnatal depression with Enzo. How did you approach pregnancy this time? I was initially very anxious, as I was worried about going through the trauma all over again. But because I knew roughly what to expect this time, I felt a lot more in control and had to remind myself that I’d done it before and got through it. Equally, I recognised

During this pregnancy, Anna practised hypnobirthing

Demi Grow pushchair from £600, shopnuna.co.uk reverse trauma from my last birth experience, and I opted for an elective caesarean, which is harder and takes longer to recover from, but was absolutely the right choice for me.

You’ve been vocal about the fact the stigma around perinatal and postnatal mental health. Are things improving? It’s defi nitely edging in the right direction, but much more needs to be done. One in fi ve mothers experience mental health challenges before and after pregnancy, and because we’ve historically just swept it under the carpet, so many people are su‚ ering unnecessarily. The NHS is now starting to put more into it, but currently new mothers only get three minutes on average to talk about how they’re feeling mentally after birth. More needs to be done to acknowledge that pregnancy, labour and parenthood can be as much of an upheaval emotionally as they are physically, and that it’s okay to say that you’re not okay.

This BabyBjörn bouncer is one of her must-have home purchases Bouncer Bliss £154.99, babybjorn.co.uk

Anna’s making the most of her time in the cosy baby bubble

Motherhood makes Anna feel complete

You also made a brilliant documentary for BBC Inside Out. Can you tell us about it? It’s quite a raw, warts-and-all side to my story, and it gave me the chance to meet other parents who were going through varying degrees of mental health issues, from day-to-day struggles to being sectioned in a mother-and-baby unit. I felt such an overwhelming amount of empathy for the people I spoke to, and a realisation that it doesn’t matter which race, religion, age or social class you identify with, we can all experience the same challenges. I just want people to know that they don’t have to su er in silence, and I’ll continue to raise awareness until I feel like there’s enough being done.

What needs to change? Time and space are absolutely essential to allow women to process how they’re feeling, and just as we have six-week physical checkups, I think there needs to be mandatory six-week checkups

to address emotional and mental health, too. The support is there, but we currently don’t have the infrastructure or funding in place for those who need it to access it.

What do you like to do when you have time for yourself? Guilt-free me-time is important to me, and I like to have a beauty treatment or bubble bath – I’m going for a facial next week, which I’m really looking forward to. The best gift you can give any new parent is time; even the luxury of shaving your legs in peace can make you feel so much better!

Me-time is very important to Anna, so she always makes sure there’s a beauty treatment in the calendar

Where do you like to shop for Enzo and Eleanora? There are some lovely ecofriendly brands, like Frugi, that I think are really cute. H&M has gorgeous baby clothes, and I’m a massive fan of Matalan, as the clothes are so a ordable and such good quality.

We also have a lovely BabyBjörn bouncer and Nuna travel system, plus an iCandy, which we keep at my parents’ house. Do you have any favourite interiors brands? I really love My 1st Years! 3 Sprouts also has some very cute storage boxes for the nursery, and Eleanora sleeps in a Shnuggle Air Bedside Crib at the moment, which is great.

What’s the best thing about being a mum? It sounds a bit corny, but motherhood gives me this feeling of completion. It took me a little while to get into my mum stride and I feel like I had a bit of a false start, but now I’m three-anda-half years into the role, I can honestly say it’s the best job in the world! 3 Sprouts Toy Storage Box £17.95, hurnandhurn.com

Anna Williamson’s BBC Inside Out documentary is available on BBC iPlayer now.