Best Beginnings: “They told us they were not ok, but they were trying to cope”

This week on the podcast, I speak to Nilushka Perera and Mariana Santos da Silva from the charity Best Beginnings. The organisation works to inform and empower parents who want to maximise their children's long-term development and well-being. They’re also behind the Baby Buddy App.

Nilushka and Marianna tell me about the charity's important research highlighting the issues parents faced, the lack of support for families and the inequalities in babies’ early experiences during lockdown. They also share the findings of their ‘one year on’ review which is titled 'No one wants to see my baby'.

Nilushka is the Head of Evaluation Impact and Policy at Best Beginnings and also had her own baby during lockdown and Mariana is one of the Evaluation, Policy and Impact Officers who worked on this important research.

Your host is Phillippa Guillou, a journalist and radio presenter whose own baby was born at the height of the pandemic. You can get in touch with Phillippa here.

This podcast is produced by OG Podcasts.

You can learn more about Best Beginnings here.

You can read more about the Babies in Lockdown Report here and Babies in Lockdown Report one year on here.