In 2021, 2556 children were born in Ticino, a number linked to motherhood which is on the increase compared to the 2020 figure but inserted in a declining phase underway since 2015, which is not enough to offset the number of deaths, so that the natural balance is negative. 807 of them were born at the Sant'Anna clinic, an absolute excellence in obstetrics and gynecology. Here the gynecologist Paolo Sommaruga works, who explains how «in 12 years I have not found any significant change in the average maternal age, in the average social condition and in the number. These are probably events that are observed more in other realities and not in a country like ours which is subject to slower social changes than others".
Paolo Sommaruga sees an increase in the number of couples who resort to assisted fertilization due to advanced age but a stability of the major obstetric pathologies. «In Ticino, I believe there is a good level of health care and the epidemiological data confirm this. The greatest evolution concerns the pathophysiological knowledge of some obstetric pathologies which allow us to better prevent and/or treat these clinical conditions; consider that in a few decades maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity have collapsed, currently reaching an extremely low incidence".
Not only the mothers, even the children tend to be fine, points out her colleague, the pediatrician Cristina Delcò Volontè. "Like every year, we also witness seasonal trends with diseases, especially infectious, more frequent at certain times of the year: typically in this period we are experiencing, for example, a wave of bronchiolitis".
As far as pregnancy and fetal development are concerned, there is more and more information, from social media to books to consultants, but the so-called matrescence is always a unique period in the life of a family. «From a scientific point of view, we are increasingly interested in the aspects related to the well-being of the little ones and in the influence that all these areas have on the development of the child from an early age (even from the fetal period). Then, thanks to technology, these notions are now easily accessible to everyone and especially to parents», underlines the pediatrician. «On the one hand this is certainly a good thing: a "trained" and prepared parent is also more aware of the well-being and needs of his child, and will be able to anticipate certain problems and perhaps face them in a more serene way».
There are various services for mothers to support them before, after and during childbirth. One of them is the assistance of a midwife, who, as Veronica Grandi of Levatrici Ticino explains: «In addition to the good development of the newborn, in the postpartum period she ensures the physical and emotional recovery of the mother and also carries out counseling in various areas of health of the mother and the newborn, collaborating with other professionals in the social-health sector. She also autonomously accompanies the woman (and the couple) during labor and birth, emotionally and empathically supporting the future parents, ensuring a discreet but punctual presence, favoring the physiology of the event in progress and collaborating with the doctor if the situation should require his intervention".
In 2021 there were also 23 children born in the maternity and birth home lediecilune, where you give birth in a natural way, following the physiology, without medical interventions. It is a different approach to the process of coming into the world, with greater attention to the naturalness of the event.
Angela Notari, mother of Furio and Clino, both born in lediecilune, after the birth of her first child, decided to divulge topics relating to motherhood thanks to a book and on social networks, supporting the importance of sisterhood, «to cheer on each other for the others, respecting and listening to each other.
We always talk about social media as a threat or a waste of time, but we don't talk about the fact that years ago the mothers were each in their own house, alone, asking themselves the same question. Today, also thanks to these platforms, mothers can get information, network, help and support each other. From breastfeeding to legal provisions and counseling in the event of violence, from infertility to much more, getting informed and sharing can allow everyone to find their own solution and to become even more free as well as an active agent of their own lives.
This model, albeit desired, is not applied to all women: judgments are often sharp, there is a push towards breastfeeding, leaving out the difficulties, problems such as spontaneous abortion are talked about in a notional way (which happens, points out Sommaruga , between 15% and 25% of pregnancies, Notari herself was unfortunately the protagonist) and postpartum depression.
But is Ticino a canton for children? Do mothers have a real choice whether to work or stay at random or do stereotypes and the economic situation decide? The data say that often two incomes are needed and even more than the availability of nursery schools, it is precisely the mother's salary that makes the difference between remaining a couple or becoming a family. The average age of parents with their first child is 32,8 years for mothers and 36,0 for fathers, and has been growing steadily over the last 15 years. In the Canton, 25,1% of people are married with children, 19,0% are married but have no children, 2,3% live together and have children while single-parent families are 8,2%. The prevailing model in couples is that of the man employed full time and the woman working part time (in 31,3% of cases). "In 2021, 24% of the issues dealt with in the individual consultancy service concerned dismissal, of which 6% upon returning from maternity leave", reports Marialuisa Parodi, co-director of Equilab, a center of expertise for work-life balance and the enhancement of gender differences in Ticino. «There are also many women between the ages of 45 and 55 who turn to us for orientation in view of a return to the world of work after dedicating themselves to their children. The Swiss system (also from a fiscal point of view) favors a familial model on the verge of extinction: father employed 100%, mother housewife; an obsolete system, which risks exacerbating the demographic decline and the waste of female human capital, which is now precious also on an economic level, as well as frustrating the ambitions and desires of the new generations», underlines Parodi. «There are some positive signs: at Equilab, we meet more and more companies interested in adopting inclusive processes and the Federal Council has also recently expressed the urgency of structuring a consultancy network that favors the return of women to the world of work after maternity leave, promoting a systematic approach that involves the public and private sectors". There are various aids for families, starting with parental allowances, early childhood allowances (369 provided in 2021, to 221 single people with children and 148 married couples with offspring) and supplementary ( 2287 last year, of which 1174 to single-parent families and 1'113 to families with both parents under the same roof).
For Angela Notari, «the truth is that today choosing to have children still requires a lot of courage: at work a lot is expected, the framework conditions for parents are improving very slowly but much remains to be done, and great social and economic uncertainty remains. Furthermore, we can inform ourselves and prepare ourselves but a mother (and also a father) will hardly be really ready for what she expects in this role: as with childbirth, it is a journey that amazes you and opens doors that are difficult to anticipate: you have to embark on it. But it's the craziest journey of life, and if you embark on being accompanied, choosing and remaining the protagonist of your journey in the most serene way possible it can be wonderful. If this is the case for me, it is certainly also thanks to sharing and sisterhood". For Grandi, even in the field of births, there is still a lot that can be done, starting with the family rooms which are not always there.
