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Postpartum
Postpartum Blues
Within the first three to five days after delivery, up to 80 per cent of mothers can experience temporary emotional distress or the ‘postpartum blues’. These changes in mood may be due to the rapid hormonal changes after delivery, lack of sleep, emotional letdown and the stresses of being a new mother.
Women find themselves experiencing rapid mood swings from happiness to sadness. They may feel restless, irritable, tearful, discouraged, depressed, or helpless. In most women, ‘the blues’ resolves itself without treatment within a week or two. If a woman’s mood does not improve, the woman may be experiencing postpartum depression.
Find out about resources in your community for postpartum blues.
Postpartum Emotional Disorders
Women's experience of mothering is a major change in their lives. It is often accompanied by changes in their personal, social, and economic circumstances and the roles they play in the society. Some women have difficulties coping during the postpartum period and find support from friends, health nurses, neighborhood groups and family doctors. However, other women encountering emotional difficulties need more support.
We assist women with difficulties after the birth to find successful solutions.
- The most vulnerable time for a woman to develop onset of mood disorders is during the postpartum period.
- Approximately 12 to 16 per cent of women experience depression during the postpartum period.
- Adolescent mothers experience depression more frequently.
- A diagnosis of depression may be missed in the postpartum period because of the demands of caring for a new infant. Changes in sleep, appetite, fatigue, and energy are common in both the normal postpartum period and postpartum depression.
- Approximately 30 per cent of women with a history of depression prior to conceiving will develop postpartum depression.
- Approximately 50 per cent of women with a history of postpartum depression develop postpartum depression in a subsequent pregnancy.
- Emotional disorders during the postpartum period can occur:
- during labour and delivery
- within a few days or weeks of delivery
- most frequently starting within 6 weeks of delivery, or
- any time up to one year following the birth
- Due to increased awareness about mood disorders in the postpartum period, vulnerable women are diagnosed and treated during pregnancy.
Find out more about mental illness, services available through our program and other resources for postpartum emotional disorders.
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