'I couldn't have got through postpartum battle without husband's extended paternity leave'

A mother who suffered from postpartum depression says she only got through it because her husband had extended paternity leave.

Agnieszka Koundourakis, who lives in Edinburgh, says she hugely benefitted from him having ten weeks off rather than the statutory two weeks.

When her daughter Kora was born 13 months ago, Agnieszka struggled with breastfeeding, meaning on most days, she was hardly sleeping.

Every day, she relied more on her husband Charalampos (known as Babis) to help her at home.

She told STV News: “I was hallucinating – I didn’t know what was going on. He could look after Kora when she was asleep, and he could do research. He was arranging the lactation consultant and everything.

“I could be a zombie trying to breastfeed while he was managing everything around the house.

“For us, it saved the situation. I was in a cycle of feeding her every two hours and sleeping for only 40 minutes every time. I had about three hours of sleep a day for a month.

“I wouldn’t have been able to continue.”

A few months later, Agnieszka found herself dealing with postpartum depression. With Babis getting ten weeks of paternity leave, much more than the statutory two weeks, she says his being at home is what saved them as a family.

Parents say extended parental leave was vital for Agnieszka's health — Parents say extended parental leave was vital for Agnieszka’s health STV News

She said: “He took the load off me, and there were specific things that were triggering me, so he pointed them out.

“I realised I couldn’t trust myself at that point because my world was just so dark.

“He got me out of the depression.”

Babis added: “It was definitely such a necessary and useful thing to have.

“It was a buffer, and I think everyone should have at least that.”

Campaigners from the family support organisation Dads Rock say that the UK has amongst the worst provisions for paternity leave in Europe and say something must change.

The CEO of Dads Rock, Thomas Lynch, said: “Countries that have better paternity leave have a smaller gender payback in their economies, so if we can increase the amount of paternity leave for dads in the UK, then it’s better for mums, dads, and children.”

It comes after a group gathered in Westminster on Wednesday to deliver a letter to Keir Starmer, signed by over three thousand British dads.

The Dad Shift letter, supported by other groups like Pregnant then Screwed and Movember, calls on the PM as a fellow father to improve the UK’s statutory paternity offer.

Scottish Labour MSP Daniel Johnson said: “I think we all know that those early years are so important for establishing good bonds between children and parents.

“So I think it’s right that we have a look at paternity and maternity rights, and the new Government is committed to doing that.”