Wellbeing Workshop for Mums

click here for more

Copyright © 2010

Mothers Be HEARD
All Rights Reserved

ART (IVF) Mums

Welcome to our new ‘ART Mums’ section on mothersbeheard.com – launched just after Mothers Day 2007!  I am very excited to open this new section on our website, and am grateful to Dr Hammarberg for helping us to launch it.  I hope it can be of benefit to the mums that read and submit entries; but also to family members and the wider community so we can all learn more about mothering in our technological age.  Submit your entry here.

This space is for mums who have had children through assisted reproductive technology (ART) like In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), Gamete Intra Fallopian Transfer (GIFT), Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), etc. 

According to ACCESS – Australia’s National Infertility Network, about 15% of Australian couples of reproductive age have a fertility problem.  Seeking ART is becoming more common today and the birth rate after fertility treatment is increasing.  For example, in 1994 2,700 babies were born as a result of ART, whereas in 2004 it had risen to over 7,000.

Why has mothersbeheard.com included ART Mums in it’s website?  Quite simply, Mothers Be HEARD wants to play a part in supporting mums who have had a baby through assisted reproductive technology because research suggests that their experience is likely to be more emotionally complex and less geared toward feeling like they can talk about any difficulties.  Mothers Be HEARD believes in giving mums a voice where they might not otherwise get an opportunity and, in doing so, create a greater awareness and acknowledgement of what it means to mother in our community.

Research fellow Dr Karin Hammarberg from Melbourne University talks about her research and support for ART Mums on mothersbeheard.com -

To better understand the needs of the growing group of women who become mothers after assisted conception, in 2001 the Key Centre for Women’s Health in Society at the University of Melbourne recruited women who had conceived with ART for a study of the experiences of childbirth and early parenting after assisted conception.

This study, completed in 2006, is the largest and most comprehensive Australian investigation of mothering after assisted conception, with over 150 women completing three questionnaires after the birth of their child. My colleagues and I compared this data with the general population and with data from other studies of childbearing women.

The study found that compared to other women, those who conceived using assisted reproductive technologies were:
• Three times more likely to be admitted to early parenting centres;
• Less likely to be breastfeeding their babies at three months;
• Less confident about their mothering skills;
• More anxious about caring for a new baby;
• Twice as likely to have a caesarean; and
• More likely to be disappointed with their birth experience.

 

Becoming a mother is a significant event in any woman’s life. This study shows that when the path to motherhood has been complicated by infertility and ART it may be more emotionally complex. We believe that infertility, the need for technology to conceive and an operative birth may have a cumulative effect in eroding a woman’s confidence in herself and her own body. On top of that, these women are often immensely grateful that the treatment worked, and have a very low sense of entitlement to complain about the problems and anxieties they are facing when adjusting to motherhood.

I’m excited to endorse ‘ART Mums’ on mothersbeheard.com because it is the first Australian online community to provide a specific venue for these mums to tell their story and to feel supported. 

Read more about Dr Hammarberg’s research

ART mums are not failures if they sometimes feel the pressures of motherhood even more than the average mum.  It’s not because they are less positive or less relaxed.  They are mums who have had to face (and perhaps continue to face) a unique set of circumstances and have 'little miracles' as a result of modern technology. 

Submit your story here.

Is there anything else that you think would be important to include in ART Mums?  Please tell me, I’d love to hear from you!