Common misconceptions
I must be a horrible person for feeling anything other than joy and excitement for the birth of my baby.
When parents are expecting the birth of their baby, attention is focused on the arrival and its celebration. These cultural ceremonies often do not allow for the time to express common feelings of apprehension, anxiety, and depression. Sleepless nights and uncertainty about parental ability are a natural part of the process for many parents. It is important to recognize and share these feelings. Parents find that often it is helpful to be involved with a community of other families or parents going through the same transition to parenthood.
Only mothers experience postpartum mood disorders.
While mothers play an immensely important role in providing the physical and emotional care for their babies, dads also play a vital part in their children’s socioemotional development. Research tells us that fathers also experience postpartum distress, irritability, and mood disorders. This is why it’s important for both parents to be aware of each other’s experiences during this critical transition to parenthood, so each can provide support for each other.
I feel this way because I haven’t had a lot of sleep – I’m fine.
Feeling fatigued because of lack of sleep is a natural experience for many parents. But it is important to recognize that when feelings of fatigue, sadness, low interest, anxiety, irritability or worry continue longer than a couple of weeks postpartum, it’s probably time to ask for help. Family and friends can supply much needed emotional support and practical assistance. Medical or mental health professionals can offer careful evaluations, trained guidance, and other therapies.
I don’t need to get any help, as long as my baby is okay.
Having a postpartum mood disorder may significantly impair how parents interact with their baby. Often, parents do not realize how mood disorders can affect how they play with their baby. These changes in their style of play—being more withdrawn, intrusive, or showing less positive response—have been shown to have significant effects on a child’s socioemotional development. This often results in signs of attention difficulties, aggressive behavior, anxiety, and delays in language development, as well as other developmental difficulties and delays.
If a mom doesn’t get postpartum depression right after giving birth, she won’t get it at all.
Postpartum depression can develop any time in the first year after giving birth.
