Introduction
If you have the "baby blues" after childbirth, you're not
alone—about half of women have a few days of mild depression after having a
baby.1 However unsettling, a certain amount of
insomnia, irritability, tears, overwhelmed feelings, and mood swings are
normal. Baby blues usually peak around the fourth postpartum day and subside in
less than 2 weeks, when hormonal changes have settled down. But you can have
bouts of baby blues throughout your baby's first year.
If your
depressed feelings have lasted more than 2 weeks, your body isn't recovering
from childbirth as expected. Postpartum depression:
- Is a serious medical condition that can be
prolonged and disabling without treatment and can affect a baby's development.
- Is best treated with counseling and an antidepressant
medicine.
- Can further improve when you
take some home treatment measures.
To prevent serious problems for you and your baby, now is
the time to work with your doctor to treat your symptoms.
If you
are having thoughts of hurting yourself, your baby, or anyone else,
see your doctor immediately or call 911 for emergency medical
care.
Return to topic:
References
Citations
Cunningham FG, et al. (2010). Psychiatric disorders section of neurological and psychiatric disorders. In Williams Obstetrics, 23rd ed., pp. 1175–1184. New York: McGraw-Hill.
O'Hara MW, Segre LS (2008). Psychologic disorders of pregnancy and the postpartum period. In RS Gibbs et al., eds., Danforth's Obstetrics and Gynecology, 10th ed., pp. 504–514. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.