Overview

You are doing something hard. This book sees that - and gives you exactly what you need to do it well. There are 3.2 million lone-parent families in the UK. One in four families with dependent children is headed by a single parent. Yet most parenting books are written as though there is always someone else in the room - someone to take the baby at 3am, someone to share the worry, someone to carry half the weight. This book is not that book. Going It Alone: A Health Visitor's Guide for Single Parents of Babies and Toddlers is written specifically for you - the parent who is doing all of it, all of the time, without a partner to hand the baby to at the end of a long day. Whether you became a single parent through relationship breakdown, bereavement, or by deliberate choice, this book meets you exactly where you are - with clinical expertise, real honesty, and the kind of warmth that only comes from someone who has sat across from thousands of parents just like you. What This Book CoversChapter by chapter, this book walks alongside you through: How you got here - the different paths into single parenthood, and why your particular route matters. Relationship breakdown, bereavement, solo parenthood by choice - each carries its own weight, and this book acknowledges all of it. The practical architecture - the logistics of doing everything alone. Managing feeds, appointments, admin, and the relentless demands of baby and toddler care without a second pair of hands. Plus a clear, no-nonsense guide to the benefits and entitlements you may not know you are owed - Universal Credit, Child Benefit, Child Maintenance, free childcare, and more. Sleep, feeding, and the physical basics - the honest truth about night feeds when there is no one to tap in, safe sleep guidance, breastfeeding support, introducing solids alone, and how to protect your own physical health when everything else comes first. Your mental health - the part nobody asks about. Single parents are at significantly elevated risk of depression and anxiety - and significantly less likely to be asked how they are doing. This chapter asks. It covers the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, how to recognise when you are not coping, how to access NHS Talking Therapies, and why getting help is the most protective thing you can do for your child. Your child's development - what typical development looks like from birth to 24 months, what the research actually says about children raised by single parents (separated from the moral panic), what to watch for, and how to raise concerns with your health visitor. Loneliness and connection - the particular loneliness of being surrounded by need with no one to meet yours. How to find your people, build adult connection, access peer support through Gingerbread and other organisations, and have the honest conversation about dating and new relationships. Co-parenting after separation - when the other parent is still in the picture. Communication strategies that reduce conflict, parallel parenting, what the research says about parental conflict and child outcomes, family mediation, legal frameworks, and what to do when the other parent is absent, unreliable, or unsafe. Money, work, and the impossible juggle - the financial reality of single parenthood that most parenting books refuse to discuss. A full guide to what you are entitled to, how to access it, how to think about returning to work, and where to go when money is genuinely not enough. When it gets too hard - crisis recognition, crisis planning, and the honest conversation about asking for help. Who to call, what actually happens when you do, and why reaching out is a sign of strength, not failure. The long game - identity, resilience, and what comes next.

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