How do I know if I have postpartum depression?

The best way to know for sure is by talking to your doctor, but if you feel really low and disconnected that is often a sign. If you are having a hard time with the day to day and aren't interested in your usual activities and hobbies or if you don't feel bonded to your baby you should reach out to someone. Even just talking to a trusted friend can help you decide if you need to seek professional help. Being a new mom is hard, don't be afraid to ask for help. Your body and lifestyle go through significant changes, including hormonal highs and lows. We often need assistance from our doctor to get feeling whole again. Hugs.

You feel alone. Really alone. I didn’t want to tell anyone what I was feeling as I was afraid to even admit aloud what I was thinking. I wanted to die. I was scared that someone would tell me that I would have to stop nursing my baby and it was the only thing that was keeping me alive. If I would have been told that, I am fairly confident I would not be alive today. I am a fairly bright person. Life has had many trials, but nothing was as bad as that prenatal and postpartum depression that I went through. It took all of life trials and magnified them twenty times. I wish that someone would have told me that I could get medication and still breastfeed. I wish someone would have directed me to a postpartum depression support group. I wish I would have known where to look for one. I ended up finding a mom’s support group which really helped. It got me out of the house, even when I didn’t want to. I found a place for my children to go once a week, so I had a quiet evening alone. I started exercising, just even walks around the block and practicing a little more self care. Those things really helped. Most of all, I started to focus on eating a more balanced diet with essential nutrients for living and taking good supplements. Those things will not generally cure or completely help PPD, but it can help some if you are not to the point of hurting yourself or someone else. Please do not be afraid to tell your doctor or midwife how you are feeling. You can be a good mom and get help for PPD. This is not something you are to blame for.

Having a baby from the very first time in the womb to the delivery is a most difficult challenge one can have in lifetime. A women sacrifices all her career, her figure, her time etc etc to have a baby. These sacrifice sometimes grows to depression level after having the baby out of the womb. After delivery all the time energy everything is invested for baby. If one feel like she is in confinement, that feeling can be reach into depression also...one also may regret not for having baby but having baby so early. One may have depression related to the misshaped body structure happened over the pregnancy period and after.

There are a list of symptoms to watch for as follows: 1. Feeling sad or empty for most or all of every day. 2. Feeling hopeless and helpless to do anything to change the situation or thing that a person is feeling hopeless about. 3. Changes in appetite (either not eating enough or eating more than is needed to stay healthy or eating a lot of unhealthy foods. 4. Unusual anger, anxiety or other moods that impact a person or those around them in a negative way. 5. Changes in sleep patterns either not being able to fall asleep, waking up more times a night than a person needs to than to meet the needs of the baby. 6. Not enjoying things that would normally give the person pleasure. 7. Feeling guilty about things that are not the person's fault. 8. Not feeling connected to the baby or other important people in the person's life. 9. Not being able to concentrate. 10. Having thoughts go around and around rather than thinking about things as a person normally would. 11. Having thoughts about wanting to leave the situation that the person finds themselves in or thinking about how dying might be the best for everyone. Usually a person will not have all of those symptoms unless they are very ill. If a person has any of the symptoms for 2 weeks or longer they should see a psychiatrist or psychologist immediately or go to the emergency room at the nearest hospital or call a suicide prevention hotline. If a person has a plan about how they would commit suicide that is an emergency and the person should call 911. It is important to tell someone trusted if you start to have any symptoms ( a partner or health professional or spiritual leader) because sometimes just talking things through will help ameliorate symptoms but if that doesn't help or the symptoms last longer than 2 weeks it is imperative to get help from professionals who have experience with mood disorders (depression, anxiety and so on) especially if the person has specific experience with postpartum depression. Rarely an emergency situation occurs called postpartum psychosis. It causes hallucinations, delusions and other psychotic symptoms. When this happens, it is a crisis and the person it happens to will not realize that it is happening because they have lost touch, partially or completely, with reality. It is important that the support people around the person know that this can happen and it is important, especially in the first few weeks after delivery that there is someone checking in every few hours with the person. It is important to note that the partner of the person can also get a form of postpartum depression due to the big change in sleep habits because of the baby's needs so it is important to keep the communication going between the people so that they can help out when needed.

Postpartum depression is characterized by a lack of joy in your new motherhood. If you feel sad when you hear the baby cry or angry when the baby is in your presence, these are cues that your body is not adjusting well to hormones of the postpartum period. If you have trouble sleeping and a lack of motivation to care for the baby, these are also cues that you have be experiencing postpartum depression. If you can't stop crying, or if even the slightest thing makes you cry, this too can be a cue that you may be experiencing postpartum depression.

I don't know since I've never had it. But usually you can tell by the symptoms Usually it happens after child birth and or a drop in hormones I'm not an expert on this time of topic. But I know that you should think on the positive rather than the negative. Believe in yourself. Self care for yourself. Use your coping skills like I do. Like Listening to music, Drawing, Reading, Color and etc. It can be very hard to think positive especially with this kind of depression. I would do some grounding and some breathing excersises to help me.

There are commonly known symptoms of postpartum depression including : - a persistent feeling of sadness and low mood. -loss of interest in the world around you and no longer enjoying things that used to give you pleasure. -feeling that you're unable to look after your baby. -trouble sleeping at night and feeling sleepy during the day. -feeling agitated, irritable or very apathetic. -loss of appetite or an increased appetite (comfort eating). -difficulty bonding with your baby with a feeling of indifference and no sense of enjoyment in their company. If you find yourself experience most of this symptoms do not worry, postpartum depression is commonly caused because after bird you experience a a dramatic drop in hormones, so it´s understandable that you might be feeling low. If the symptom continue please seek professional help since this is mostly treatable with psychotherapy and/or medication.

Postpartum depression is a lot more powerful and lasts longer. It follows about 15 percent of births, in first-time moms and those who’ve given birth before. It can cause severe mood swings, exhaustion, and a sense of hopelessness. The intensity of those feelings can make it difficult to care for your baby or yourself. Postpartum depression shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s a serious disorder, but it can be overcome through treatment. You feel sad or cry a lot, even when you don’t know why. You’re exhausted, but you can’t sleep. You sleep too much. You can’t stop eating, or you aren’t interested in food at all. You have various unexplained aches, pains, or illnesses. You don’t know why you’re irritable, anxious, or angry. Your moods change suddenly and without warning. You feel out of control. You have difficulty remembering things. You can’t concentrate or make simple decisions. You have no interest in things you used to enjoy. You feel disconnected from your baby and wonder why you’re not filled with joy like you thought you’d be. Everything feels overwhelming and hopeless. You feel worthless and guilty about your feelings. You feel like you can’t open up to anyone because they’ll think you’re a bad mother or take your baby, so you withdraw. You want to escape from everyone and everything. You have intrusive thoughts about harming yourself or your baby.

Because PPD can appear anywhere from a couple of weeks to 12 months after birth, there's no average length of time it lasts. A 2014 review of studies suggests that PPD symptoms improve over time, with many cases of depression resolving 3 to 6 months after they begin. PPD can begin as soon as you give birth, but you probably won’t realize it right away since it’s considered normal to feel sad, exhausted, and generally “out of sorts” during the first few days after baby arrives. It may not be until after the typical baby blue time frame should have passed that you realize something more serious is going on.

Postpartum depression is a clinical diagnosis. Therefore, if you feel you may have postpartum depression, it is best to be evaluated by a physician so they can determine whether you have postpartum depression and what can be done to help. Postpartum depression is common. It is something doctors discuss routinely with those who have just had a baby. While social stigma can prevent those with postpartum depression from seeking help, it is important to recognize that many changes happen in the body leading up to, during, and after childbirth. These changes can affect your mood and well-being, so having postpartum depression is in no way a reflection on you or anything you did. It is merely your body's response to hormonal and physical changes, and thus, it can be remedied.