Coronavirus births: 'My baby's first word was mask'

Leanne Howlett knew what post-natal depression felt like. She'd been affected after the birth of her son a few years before - but this time was different.

Her daughter was just five months old and it was March 2020, the start of the first UK lockdown following the global outbreak of Covid-19.

"Overnight, home appointments [from the perinatal mental-health team] dropped away," she remembers.

They would be over the phone instead, she was told, causing her panic about how she would cope.

Nurseries were closed, she couldn't see family and getting through the basics of each day was a huge struggle.

"I dipped to rock-bottom," says the 34-year-old.

"You cannot bring yourself out of it - you think everyone is better off without you."


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