In Others' WordsA Few Stats on Postpartum Depression
According to recent medical reports:
- Seven out of ten postpartum women will experience "the Blues."
- Another one or two of these women will suffer from postpartum depression.
- And another .01 percent will battle postpartum psychosis.
If you get together with nine of your friends--that makes ten altogether, right?--seven of you will experience "the Blues."
One or two of those seven will struggle with postpartum depression.
Stating the obvious:
Having a baby puts a "bullseye" on you facing emotional upheaval--insomnia, irritability, depression.
You're probably thinking: Tell me something I don't already know. It's all part of having a baby.
My question? Is postpartum depression getting talked about more in the media--radio, television, magazines, newspapers--than it is being talked about within our personal lives?
I don't know. You tell me.
To be continued . . .
posted by Beth K. Vogt @ 11:34 PM
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1 Comments:
Our mobile society leaves new moms without a support group of older women to "mother" them while they learn to take care of a baby.
We need to reach out more and offer support to new moms. For example, a young woman I know had her third child five months ago. As an experienced mom, she sounded as if she could nurse a baby, make a snack for a toddler, and read to her preschooler--all at the same time. But her oldest child is only four. I noticed she dropped all her extra baby weight, and more, exremely fast. Lucky her, right?
Maybe not. A big weight gain or loss is also a sign of postpartum depression. I asked if she might be depressed, and she admitted that she had been, but she was getting over it.
I wish I had spotted her depression sooner and had been in a position to help. Maybe, sometime in the future, I'll spot postpartum depression sooner.
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