Tuesday, November 2, 2010

postpartum depression reflection

So The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is now recommending ob-gyns screen for depression in pregnant and postpartum moms because depression symptoms not only affect mothers, but their children as well. 

According to the College, as many as 25 percent of women will experience some form of depression. This says nothing of the less severe baby blues, in which a woman bawls over something as insignificant as spilled breast milk. I don't think this finding is all that OhMyGoD shocking given a woman drowned her children in a bathtub and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Not every mom's experience is (obvs) as severe as Andrea Yates', but surely, after giving birth many women feel:  


* solitude: suddenly she's alone everyday when she was previously surrounded by coworkers and friends 
* exhaustion: babies wake every two to four hours to feed... and that's assuming they aren't colicy or unneccessarily fussy
* helplessness: calming a crying baby isn't always an easy task
* anxiety: in case caring for a newborn isn't daunting enough, new mothers have to learn to do this without the earning power she once had. The United States and Australia are the only industrialized countries that don't provide paid leave for new mothers nationally, though there are exceptions in some U.S. states., according to USA Today.

I know I had those feelings, and I have a happy, healthy baby who's cries I can typically calm with a hot meal, a firm burp or a clean pacifier. Plus, I had an arsenal of adults to help me.

I'm not qualified to make this judgement, but here's a theory.... based on my own experience and relatively no other, outside evidence. Perhaps postpartum depression is part situational... the way a person gets depressed when they mourn the death of a loved one, lose a job or experience some other life-changing event. If a mother had more support, say maternity leave but for daddies, the U.S. would see fewer cases of postpartum depression.

Dads can take parental leave too and ensure a job remains for them when they return, but with zero income for an extended period of time, many families would flounder. So dads don't. Maybe they take a couple days or even a couple weeks, but given the huge life alteration that is a newborn, perhaps it would behoove their family life, work life and all around contribution to society if they took more.

I am very fortunate. My husband can't work right now due to injury... OK, that's not so fortunate. What's great about it though is he keep me company in the middle of the night when baby needs a feeding, diaper, cuddle-time, etc. My husband can take over when baby's fussiness frazzles me. And, most importantly, he is a trampoline I can bounce ideas and issues off of. I don't have to feel bad interrupting him from work or waking him at night since he doesn't have the pressure of an 8-5 right now either.

If more mothers had the luxury of another adult at her aid during the day, perhaps the incidence of postpartum depression would decrease.

Through its studies, the College determined postpartum depression can adversely affect a child's cognitive, neurological and motor skill development. Perhaps we owe it to the children and their families to research treatment like this, rather than the kind that comes in a pill. I'm not saying pills have no use, I'm just saying its possible some mothers might not need them if they had adequate support from the beginning.

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