*3.3. Theme 3: Availability of Support to the Mothers and Their Children during the First 1000 Days of the Children's Lives*

The participants discussed their experience pertaining to the support they received. They mentioned receiving good to poor support from different groups of people. Furthermore, the participants also mentioned challenges in their relationship with these groups of people, and their child's relationship with them.

### 3.3.1. Sub-Theme 3.1: The Mothers' Experience Regarding Support

Several participants were unmarried and living with their families when they found out that they were pregnant, which impacted the response from others and the support they received. Participant 16 experienced antagonism from her strict father and shared: "He wanted to put me out [out of the home]". A few participants faced negative responses from their child's father: "He told me it was not his child. ... he degraded me" (Participant 2), whereas two participants revealed positive responses from their children's father. Furthermore, some participants had a positive experience regarding support that contributed to optimistic feelings, as stated by Participant 16: "He [friend] made me feel that there was hope". Some participants had negative experiences regarding support, as indicated: "It is difficult if you are pregnant and you don't have good support" (Participant 12).
