Maternal support includes emotional care, understandable information, practical help, birth-partner support, feeding guidance and time to recover after birth. Recent maternity surveys show strong performance in some areas, but support is not consistent across pregnancy, birth, the postnatal check and the months that follow.
Contents
- Antenatal emotional and mental-health support
- Postnatal mental-health support and follow-up
- Respect, communication and support during birth
- Breastfeeding and infant-feeding support
- Leave and workplace support
- Social support and longer postpartum needs
Antenatal emotional and mental-health support
The Maternity survey 2025 found that 90% of respondents were offered mental-health support during pregnancy, compared with 83% in 2021. In the same survey, 81% said they always had enough time to ask pregnancy-related questions, up from 73% in 2021. Communication was also widely rated positively: 89% said staff always spoke in a way they could understand, compared with 88% in 2024.
These measures describe whether support was offered and whether care felt accessible; they do not show that every mother accepted a referral or received specialist treatment. They also come from a 2025 maternity survey, while the national U.S. measures below cover 2018.
The CDC Vital Signs report, reporting U.S. data for 2018, found that 79.1% of respondents reported being asked about depression during pregnancy. The result varied substantially by location, from 51.3% in Puerto Rico to 90.7% in Alaska. In that same U.S. dataset, 13.2% reported postpartum depressive symptoms, ranging from 9.7% in Illinois to 23.5% in Mississippi.
The CDC report also stated that mental-health conditions underlay approximately 9% of pregnancy-related deaths in the 2018 analysis. This is a mortality finding, not a measure of how many mothers experience depression or anxiety. The different definitions, populations and measurement periods mean these figures should not be combined into a single rate.
Postnatal mental-health support and follow-up
Support after birth is often measured in several stages: whether a mother knows whom to contact, whether someone asks about her mental health, whether she receives information about possible changes, and whether a routine check allows enough time for discussion.
The Maternity survey 2025 reported that 83% were told whom to contact for advice about mental health after birth, compared with 81% in 2024. The Maternity patient experience survey 2025: national qualitative report found that 94% said a midwife or health visitor asked about their mental health after birth. However, only 61% said they definitely received information about possible post-birth mental-health changes, and 45% said their general practitioner spent enough time on mental health at the six-to-eight-week check.
The U.S. Timing of Postpartum Depressive Symptoms report used 2019 data and found that 7.2% had depressive symptoms at nine to ten months postpartum. Of those who were symptomatic at nine to ten months, 57.4% had not been symptomatic at two to six months. A further 3.1% were symptomatic at both time points. The report found a prevalence ratio of 4.03 for symptoms at nine to ten months among those with prior depression.
The timing of risk matters. The CDC report found that more than 60% of mental-health pregnancy-related deaths during 2008–2017 occurred 43–365 days postpartum. This measure covers deaths and a defined postpartum window, so it should not be read as the prevalence of postpartum depression. It does reinforce why support and follow-up cannot end at discharge or at one early check.
Respect, communication and support during birth
Being heard and included is a central part of maternal support. In the Maternity survey 2025, 77% said they were always involved in decisions about labour and birth, compared with 75% in 2024. Seventy-two percent said a partner or close person stayed with them as much as they wanted, up from 63% in 2024.
Access to advice also varied by contact method. Among telephone-triage users, 72% definitely got the advice they needed. Among face-to-face-triage users, 78% said staff definitely listened to them. Fourteen percent of respondents who had an induced labour said they lacked information about all their options. Seven percent said they were sent home once while worried, and 3% said this happened more than once. Ten percent were left alone at a worrying time during later labour or birth.
The Maternity patient experience survey 2025: national qualitative report gives a related picture across contacts with midwives. Seventy-four percent of respondents who contacted midwives during pregnancy always got the help they needed. During labour and birth, 66% always got staff when needed; after birth in hospital, the figure was 57%. After discharge, 75% of those contacting a midwife always got the help they needed.
Continuity was less complete than contact-based help: 61% said they saw a midwife as much as they wanted, while 33% wanted to see a midwife more. Together, these figures distinguish the availability of a service from the experience of timely, continuous support.
Breastfeeding and infant-feeding support
Infant-feeding support should respect a mother’s decision while providing practical, timely advice. The Maternity patient experience survey 2025: national qualitative report found that 84% said midwives always respected their infant-feeding decisions. Sixty-three percent said midwives always gave enough feeding support and advice, and 57% received feeding help from a midwife during the four weeks after birth.
Evidence summarized by the World Health Organization in Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies describes the effect of additional support in a review through 2016. By six months, 53% of mothers receiving extra support had stopped any breastfeeding, compared with 57% receiving standard care. For exclusive breastfeeding, 75% receiving extra support had stopped by six months, compared with 83% receiving standard care.
The same review reported that extra support reduced stopping any breastfeeding before six months by 9%, with a relative risk of 0.91. It reduced stopping exclusive breastfeeding before six months by 12%, with a relative risk of 0.88. Before four to six weeks, the relative risk was 0.87 for stopping any breastfeeding and 0.79 for stopping exclusive breastfeeding. These are review findings from evidence available through 2016, not a forecast of current breastfeeding outcomes.
Leave and workplace support
Paid leave and workplace conditions can shape whether feeding plans are practical after birth. UNICEF’s BREASTFEEDING AND FAMILY-FRIENDLY POLICIES: An evidence brief reported that only 12% of countries provided at least 18 weeks of maternity leave in 2018.
In evidence reviewed in 2019, three months of leave made longer breastfeeding at least 50% more likely, while six months or more made breastfeeding at six months at least 30% more likely. A Brazilian study summarized in the brief reported exclusive breastfeeding under six months at 50%; 91% of the exclusively breastfeeding mothers in that study were on paid leave. These results describe specific evidence and should not be generalized to every country or workplace.
| Workplace or leave measure | Reported result | Period or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Countries with at least 18 weeks of maternity leave | 12% | 2018 |
| Increase in likelihood of longer breastfeeding with three months’ leave | At least 50% | Evidence reviewed 2019 |
| Increase in likelihood of breastfeeding at six months with six months or more leave | At least 30% | Evidence reviewed 2019 |
| California breastfeeding-rate increase after six weeks’ paid leave | 10%–20% at 3, 6 and 9 months | 2015 report |
| U.S. support-program return on investment | $3 per $1 invested | Evidence summarized 2019 |
The UNICEF brief also summarized a 2015 report in which California breastfeeding rates rose 10%–20% at three, six and nine months after six weeks of paid leave. U.S. support programs were reported to save 3 dollars for every 1 dollar invested. Lactation-support businesses reported retention of 83%–94%, compared with 59% nationally.
Workplace support was not uniform in the U.S. Army survey summarized by UNICEF: 44% of surveyed U.S. Army women breastfed and 53% felt supported. Only 13% of surveyed respondents had access to a private room, sink and refrigerator. These are survey findings summarized in the 2019 evidence brief, not current estimates for all military personnel or workplaces.
Social support and longer postpartum needs
Social support extends beyond clinical appointments. The CDC’s Preconception and Interconception Health Status of Women Who Recently Gave Birth to a Live-Born Infant — PRAMS, United States, 26 Reporting Areas, 2004 reported mean postpartum social support of 84.8% across North Carolina, Oklahoma and Rhode Island. The state figures were 84.1% in Oklahoma and 86.0% in Rhode Island.
That 2004 analysis also reported mean postpartum social support of 90.2% among white women and 91.1% among women with private delivery insurance. These subgroup results come from an older U.S. survey covering 26 reporting areas and should be interpreted within its original population and period. They do not establish that race, insurance status or any single factor causes differences in support.
Across the newer maternity measures, the clearest gaps are between being asked and being informed, between being able to contact a professional and receiving enough time, and between receiving some help and receiving continuous help. Maternal support statistics therefore need to be read by stage, geography, population and date: a high percentage for one kind of contact does not guarantee adequate support throughout pregnancy and the first postpartum year.