The query has to be between 2 and 50 characters
Products in this catalogue
~ BETTER MATERNITY YOU ARE NOT ALONE Statistically, 30% of us will experience postpartum depression. That figure is probably higher, though, because many women are undiagnosed or even too ashamed to admit how they are feeling. We are more fortunate than women were even 20-30 years ago, just because of the increased awareness of the condition and the fact that some well-known celebrities have come out and spoken openly about their own experiences. When you are in the middle of this illness, though - and it is an illness and not just ‘in your head’ - you feel completely isolated. BABY BLUES VERSUS POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION Whoever came up with the term ‘baby blues’ was probably an Elvis groupie, but | have to give them credit: it certainly caught on. A lot of people mistake postpartum depression for baby blues, but the two are different. The blues affect up to 80% of us a few days after giving birth, and hormones are the main culprit because, let's face it, there are some pretty interesting things happening that enable us to produce milk to sustain our offspring. For me, the blues arrived with my milk supply, which happened to coincide with the day | was discharged from hospital. | changed my gorgeous little boy into his ‘going home outfit’, still hunched over, protecting my caesarean incision, and looked at him - slightly yellow from jaundice and swimming in a babygrow supposed to fit newborns - and burst into floods of tears. My poor husband arrived to find me in the arms of a nurse, soaking her epaulettes in tears. Baby blues are fuelled by hormonal changes, a sudden lack of sleep and adjusting to a new way of life, leaving you feeling overwhelmed and emotional. These feelings pass, though, and after two weeks you should be coping again. Unfortunately, sometimes they don't pass. Or you get over the baby blues only to be whacked a few months later with the same symptoms - only worse. You are now in postpartum depression territory, and it's a miserable place to be. Unlike the baby blues, it doesn't go away after a couple of weeks. It removes the colour from your world and you feel like you are living ina misty haze. Common symptoms include irritability, crying for no specific reason, feelings of hopelessness which then trigger feelings of guilt because you feel like you are failing your child, a lack of interest in things you used to enjoy, changes to your appetite and, in some cases, thoughts of wanting to harm yourself or your baby. No wonder so many women suffer in silence. Having to admit these feelings feels like the ultimate failure.
| Name | Details |
|---|
