The shroud of secrecy around the immense difficulties that new parents face is a well-entrenched part of life.
Since they wisely knew that along with the miracle of birth came unforeseen difficulties, most African cultures traditionally mitigated this by older women forming a present support circle around a mother and her newborn.
However, modern living has put paid to this custom.
Increasingly, mothers have started speaking out about these issues, which run the full gamut, ranging from postnatal depression to navigating sexuality after giving birth.
Amanda Rogaly was one such mother and was unwilling to silently endure and perform “motherly perfection”, that is how BabyYumYum was birthed six years ago.
The founder of the parenting portal started off blogging her adventures with her newborn and was amazed at the following she soon amassed.
Karabo Mokoena, the guest editor of BabyYumYum magazine, said the fact that Rogaly’s message was packaged in a South African context set her apart and catapulted BabyYumYum to its present stance as the number 1 digital parenting platform in the country.
The magazine will from Friday to Sunday host the Virtual Parenting Experience for the second year running, following the massive success of the first event last year.
The 2021 edition drew 13,300 people, who were exposed to a variety of experts such as psychiatrists, paediatricians, mental health professionals and sex therapists. Among the 30 experts lined up for this year, Dr Tony Maraschin and clinical psychologist Lwanele Khasu will be answering questions.
“As a real visionary, Amanda was able to use her marketing and events background to leverage the interest shown to build the platform to what it is now. Parents need to know that the information is available. We are hopeful that the information imparted is going to change lives.
“The resident experts that we have on the portal as well as many other experts are going to be there to answer any questions any mother or father might have. There are a lot of things that one may not get a chance to ask their healthcare provider, for instance, how to navigate sex after giving birth – we will have a gynaecologist to tackle all that. It’s been said that we are one of the most depressed nations in the world, but it does not have to be like that,” Mokoena said.
The tickets for the event are R80 per person.
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