What are postpartum mood disorders?
About 1 out 5 to 7 (or 21%) of women are diagnosed with perinatal mood and anxiety disorder after giving birth. Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders include postpartum depression, postpartum anxiety, postpartum OCD and postpartum bipolar disorder. These disorders typically last up to a year after giving birth and are treatable with therapy and/or medications.
Is it Postpartum or the Baby Blues?
As an expectant mother, you believe that becoming a Mom will be a beautiful journey without much of a struggle. We are made to believe you’ll have a wonderful birth experience and when you look at your child for the first time, you will feel an instant connection with your baby, and forever be filled with love and happiness. That’s what we see in the movies right? But when the moment comes, you have a different experience than that. Immediately after the birth you begin crying, feeling overwhelmed, sad, irritable, and exhausted. Suddenly you panic.
Throughout pregnancy, the body progressively produces more estrogen and progesterone to help your baby grow. By the end pregnancy, these hormones are very high. But suddenly, within the first day of giving birth, those hormones decrease rapidly, eventually getting to where they were before you conceived, which is about 100 times less than where your body was just 24 hours prior! This is a very rapid fluctuation!
This can cause a flood of emotions- like symptoms of PMS but much more intense. After birth, you may find yourself crying frequently, feeling irritable, having mood swings, and have difficulty sleeping. This is very common. So common in fact that 4 out 5 (or 80%) of women experience some form of this. The baby blues may begin 2 days after giving birth and peak 3-5 days after birth, lasting at a maximum of two weeks. These feelings get better without any treatment, as the body adjusts to the hormonal fluctuation.
Working with our PMH-C (certification in perinatal mental health) therapist, will shed light on whether you are dealing with the baby blues of a perinatal mood and anxiety disorder (PMAD) such as postpartum depression.
the transition to motherhood
Having a baby also brings up a lot of possibly unexamined belief structures around how you were parented and the type of parent you want to be. In addition, it can highlight anything that needs attention in our relationship dynamics and our relationship with asking for help.
Common feelings after birth include:
- “I miss my old life”
- “Recovering from birth and taking care of a baby is hard”
- “Now what?”
- “I’m overwhelmed by everyone’s advice and opinions”
- May feel under-appreciated
- Tired
- Isolated and stressed
- Sleep deprived
- Missing alone time
Having a baby brings upon a lot of change in your life, both practically and emotionally. Reach out to us for a safe space to process and share your experience as a new parent, while also learning to cope with the emotional ups and downs.
From an integrative and holistic, mind/body/spirit angle, we will:
- Tap into your inner natural wisdom as a Mother
- Listen to your intuition
- Enter into a deeper relationship with your body
- Eliminate unrealistic expectations and let go of “how it’s supposed to look”
- let go of comparison and thrive in this natural connection to your own instincts
- connect with your soul and creativity while navigating this deeply meaningful chapter of life
