Many people are familiar with the term baby blues, which can be a period of time (often in the first few weeks) after giving birth where a new mothers hormones can feel unbalanced and as a new mum you can feel sad, tearful and overwhelmed by it all. Usually these feelings lift again shortly after they arrive.

However postnatal depression is where those blues do no lift and feelings of depression can even get worse. For others however feelings of depression can take time to develop and may be most obvious 4-6 months after giving birth. Postnatal depression is more common than many think and occurs in approximately 10-15% of women in the first 12 months of having a baby.

Signs of Post Natal Depression

Some of the most common signs include feeling sad and anxious for weeks or months on end. You may also not enjoy being with your baby and have feelings of guilt, agitation and anger and want to avoid meeting with friends and family.

How do I deal with it? It is very important that you seek help from your GP or another mental health professional, be that a psychotherapist, counselor or community nurse if your feelings last for more than 2 weeks and especially if you have any thoughts of harming yourself or your baby.