Blues Or Postnatal Depression

Postnatal Depression
This usually occurs right after getting Baby Blues, and is a very distressing state having many symptoms. It is thought to affect one in ten women with some women suffering and it not being apparent to health professionals and/or the new mother suffering it in silence.
Sometimes postnatal depression lasts longer than two to eight weeks -lasting for six to twelve months sheer the baby has been born. The symptoms such as tiredness, or being irritable, or having a poor appetite should not get in the way of your normal life. The other symptoms can make you feel dependant and increasingly depress, these include:

• Sleeplessness
• Having panic attacks
• The inability to stop crying
• Loss of interest in your baby
• Anxiety
• Feeling hopeless
• Unable to concentrate or having memory loss
• Feeling unwell with access and pains

Puerperal Psychosis
One or two mothers in a thousand will suffer from Puerperal Psychosis, which is a severe psychiatric illness that a few mothers get, and needs a few weeks or months of hospital treatment where a full recovery can be made.

What Can Be Done to Help?
If you think you are suffering from any of these conditions, don't worry about thing that it makes you a bad mother and don't struggle alone. Postnatal Depression is an illness, so go about seeking help from your midwife or your GP. If you can't get yourself to make an appointment then get your partner or a friend to book the appointment. You can request your health visitor or GP to make a call round. There are other organisations such as the Association for Postnatal Illness, Meet-a-Mum Association (or MAMA) or the National Childbirth Trust.