About

A collection of voices on babies and care-giving in lockdown

Me and baby Alicia looking longingly out of the window.

Hi, I’m Lauren, a creative writing lecturer currently spending my maternity leave in lockdown.

I started this project to combine three aspects of my life – parenthood, creative writing and mental health. I hope that connecting with other new parents and encouraging others to express themselves creatively will help to generate good mental health for all.

It’s surreal enough to have a baby without a global pandemic, but in lockdown it’s even stranger. Add mental health into the mix and you have yet another challenge to navigate.

For those of us with existing mental health issues, these are likely to be exacerbated, whilst for many people, isolation has triggered these issues for the first time. By acknowledging each other and sharing our experiences, hopefully we can make the duration calmer, more connected and ultimately promote a positive approach to this uncertain time.

Aims

Overall, the website aims to comfort and encourage not only people, like myself, who have become new parents during this period of lockdown, but everyone who has struggled and fought to overcome the challenges of care-giving of any kind.

The longterm aim for the ‘babble’ generated by the lockdownbaby community, is to create an anthology of writing showcasing our experiences and thoughts during this time.

What we want

We want to hear from a range of voices:

  • From parents, grandparents, carers, guardians, siblings or friends; midwives, nursery nurses, doctors, teachers; key workers of all kinds – anyone with direct experience of babies and care-giving in lockdown, including self-care, can share their true stories.
  • From beginning and established writers interested in exploring these challenges in creative and fantastical ways through creative non-fiction, fiction or poetry!

For new parents, Baby might be brand new, a year old, or not yet born. Perhaps you are thinking about starting a family or you have experienced unexpected loss. Maybe you are physically separated from Baby or locked down alone with one (or more than one!).

Perhaps your babies aren’t babies anymore, but anything from preschoolers to teenagers – those with toddlers and older children have a wealth of experience to share and encouragement to give!

On the other hand, you might be a nurse or midwife, dedicating your life to caring for babies, risking your life every day to protect mothers and babies during the pandemic…

Whatever your situation, we want to hear anything and everything about care-giving in lockdown – stories, poems, real-life musings, fears, advice and observations.

Share your voice

You might be an experienced writer, a beginner or perhaps you’ve only ever written lists! Visit our resources page for advice, ideas and activities!

Whatever your ability, we were all babies and children once – and we’re all in lockdown together! You have a voice – come and share it. Together we can help create a historic legacy for all those too young to remember this unlikely time we’re living through.

Check our submit page for more information. We look forward to hearing from you!