The moment we first hold our newborn in our arms, we begin a new chapter in our lives. The pregnancy period has prepared us to some degree for the responsibility that will inevitably follow and it is fair to say that Mother Nature gives us a taste of sleepless nights and utter exhaustion to give us an inkling of what might follow. Despite all of this, nothing truly prepares us for the reality of motherhood.
No matter how prepared we think we are, the arrival of our little bundle of joy can send our world into chaos and reduce our previously productive and active life into one of feeling pretty chuffed when we have managed to dress and eat breakfast before mid afternoon whilst tending to the needs of our baby.
A midwife once commented that childbirth is a great leveller and how right she was! The initial revelations of real life parenting take all couples from all walks of life by surprise and the emotional overwhelm of this rollercoaster experience can affect some women more significantly than others.
Commonly talked about and experienced by nearly all mothers are the ‘baby blues’ which surface sometime in the first few days following birth. Whether they are the result of hormonal changes or the release of the pent up, low level anxiety we all carry during pregnancy until our little ones are safely in our arms, who knows? One thing for certain is that we can find ourselves letting the floodgates open, crying out tears of relief, joy and a whole host of other stored emotions. This may be accompanied with feelings of guilt and overwhelm as we feel unable to cope as effectively as we had thought we would. These feelings last no more than a few days and however surprising and unsettling they may be, they pass.
Occasionally, in about ten percent of new mothers these feelings can linger, or something with similar degrees of familiarity can manifest within the early months of motherhood. Symptoms may reveal themselves gradually or appear seemingly overnight and their severity will differ from one mother to the next and collectively, can indicate postnatal depression.
Symptoms may surface in a number of ways and many women, whilst aware that something doesn’t feel right, will attempt to hide their feelings of inadequacy and suffer in silence. Where symptoms are visible they may include despondency, gradual loss of outside interests, lethargy and an unshakable tiredness, irritability, guilt, anxiety, along with fears and sensitivity to baby’s health and welfare, erratic sleep, difficulty concentrating on simple tasks.
If any of these symptoms resonate with you or someone you care deeply about, it is important to pluck up the courage to share these feelings with a trusted health professional, such as your assigned Health Visitor or family GP. They will be able to offer thorough assessment, monitoring and where appropriate, prescription medication to help.
Once professional care is in place and with your GP’s consent, help is available here to begin clearing the emotional overload contributing to the depressive state and feelings of overwhelm. Steps taken to clear the emotional turmoil will contribute to a lessening of symptoms and light at the end of the tunnel.
To talk further about treatment to help postnatal depression click here.
Site Content © Joanne Wren 2007