Note to new mothers, you probably don’t have time to do everything you should to take of yourself. I recommend outsourcing as much of it as possible.

Is it safe for pregnant women to take medication for depression while pregnant?
According to a new study from the Society for Women’s Health Research, only 10 per cent of women think it is safe. 68% of doctors believe taking medication for depression during pregnancy is safe.
About 50% of women believe it’s safe to take the drugs during the postpartum period. 97% of doctors think it is safe.
Why the huge gap?

A new study by Dr. Nadja Reissland found that women who cradle their babies to the right, may be experiencing higher than normal stress levels and indicate a greater likelihood of PPD.
Obviously, hand-preference, child behavior and other factors influence how new mother’s hold their babies, but this observation is an important one. We’ve already seen research that shows many doctors just don’t ask their patients who are new mothers about stress and other emotional factors. Asking them to notice how a woman holds her child may just prompt time-starved medical professionals to delve a little deeper into their patients’ well-being.
Results …read more

When I wrote the Top Five Ways to Prevent Postpartum Depression, the comments section became a platform for discussing the commercial interests in producing vitamin supplements as well as the pharmaceutical industry’s desire to keep interest in the supplements down. The conversation left me uncertain of many complex issues. Still, I cannot figure out why people can raise money to produce supplements, but they can’t raise money to create a charity or a foundation to study Postpartum Depression and educate families about it.

In recent months there have been huge efforts to inform women and their partners about the existence of Postpartum Depression (PPD) and Post Natal Depression (PND). There’s just one problem. Many doctors aren’t including important questions to diagnose PPD when they examine new mothers says a new study.

The first six weeks after my daughter was born are full of memories that have nothing to do with her.

I’ve discovered that it isn’t difficult to tell someone when I think she had PPD.
Nope.
The hard part is convincing her that she really does have time to do something about it.

Over the years, many people have suggested that experienced mothers in constant contact with new mothers – LLL leaders, playgroup volunteers, women’s faith group facilitators, for example – should be trained to recognise the signs of postpartum depression. The idea being that those women could then gather the community, social and medical resources together in order to help the new mother and her family.  I’ve always thought it was a great idea. Until I was in a position to spot a potential case of PPD and had no idea how to broach the subject….

Postpartum Depression is more common that previously believed. It’s not just the baby blues or the normal crash after the adrenaline spike of giving birth. Here are the top five ways to prevent postpartum depression.

Does this news from USA Today’s Health Scout surprise anyone?

New moms with colicky babies are more likely to suffer from postpartum depression than other new moms, a new study shows.
Researchers from Brown Medical School and the Rhode Island Department of Health analyzed data collected from more than 2,900 new mothers.
They found that 19 percent reported moderate to severe symptoms of postpartum depression, and 8 percent reported that their babies were difficult to console. Mothers who reported postpartum depression were more than twice as likely to report difficult-to-console babies, and mothers with inconsolable babies were more than two times as likely …read more