Sunrise reporter Edwina Bartholomew pens a heartfelt letter to new mums in Melbourne amid lockdown

Edwina Bartholomew has penned an open letter to mothers in Melbourne, who have had to endure harsh lockdown restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In an editorial for The Daily Telegraph on Friday, the 37-year-old Sunrise reporter said she sympathises with new mothers, who have been isolated.    

She said the first year of motherhood is ‘filled with so many milestones’, but they’ve been ‘taken away’ by the pandemic.

Describing the situation as ‘bloody hard’, Edwina said it would have been especially difficult for new mums to ‘watch the rest of the world open up’.  

‘Many new mums have missed out on crucial support to survive the tumultuous fourth trimester, no mothers’ groups, no actual mums dropping by, no friends coming around,’ she continued.  

‘I’ve admired from afar as you’ve all battled through. I don’t know how you’ve done it but you have. 

‘Now, you can travel further from your home, you can soak up the sunshine outside for longer, you can see a wider circle of friends. These little liberties are even more valued now.’

Edwina signed the heartfelt letter with: ‘We salute you. All the Other Mums’.

The TV presenter is a new mother herself, after welcoming daughter Molly in December last year.

It’s the first child for Edwina and her husband of two years, fellow journalist Neil Varcoe. 

She spoke about the difficulties of being a first-time mum in an interview with The Daily Telegraph in January.

‘The reality is it is so friggin’ hard. I naively thought after 15 years of shift work and working long days that I would take it all in my stride. But that wasn’t the case really at all,’ she said at the time.