Top Five Ways to Prevent Postpartum Depression
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.
5. Choose one obsession to be vigilant about. If you’re passionate about breastfeeding on demand do it. If you’re passionate about keeping germs at bay, do that. If you believe that baby wearing is the only way to carry a baby, then do it. Choose one thing to do passionately all the time according to your ideals. Just be flexible about everything else. There is no such thing as a perfect mother and no one expects you to do everything according to a book written by someone with more money and hired help than you will ever have.
4. Monitor yourself. Parenthood can be one long stretch of worry, fear and concern for the rest of your life. If you let it. Try to catch yourself and learn how to turn your emotions around by doing something positive to address your feelings and concerns. At the same, teach yourself how to tell the difference between what you control and what you don’t. It makes room for laughter and love.
3. Don’t do it alone. There’s no such thing as a perfect mother and there’s no such thing as a mother who does it all alone. New mothers need each other to talk about their experiences and end isolation. And, while you love your baby more than anyone else, don’t worry about letting others into that circle of love. Not only are your family members your advocates if you need one, but fathers, grandparents, and siblings are all connected to you and to your children. Be connected.
2. If it interferes with joy, deal with it. Colic, exhaustion, depression, anything else that depletes you and makes your baby unhappy. Dealing with a baby’s issue improves the mother’s health and well being while dealing with the mother’s health issue improves the baby’s well being. It just makes sense. One of the benefits of having a family doctor rather than a pediatrician for the kids and a GP for you, is that they are more attuned to treating everyone, not just the patient. When it comes to new mothers and babies, that attitude is very appropriate.
1. Keep taking your prenatal vitamins with a side order of a fish oil capsule. It’s effortless and acts as a kind of insurance when you aren’t paying close attention to your diet. B vitamins and Omega acids help keep all of our moods balanced.
Tags: postpartum-depression, ppd, preventing-postpartum-depression.Related Stories
POSTED IN: Mental Health
24 opinions for Top Five Ways to Prevent Postpartum Depression
ratphooey
Jan 26, 2007 at 7:59 am
I can’t agree with the family doctor thing enough! I shudder to think when my post-partum depression might have been diagnosed had I not been seeing the doc every week with my son in the early period after his birth. Since she was my doctor, too, she helped to catch it much, much earlier than it would have been, otherwise.
kbaggott
Jan 26, 2007 at 9:31 am
Ratphooey - How are you feeling since the birth of baby 2?
Ratphooey
Jan 26, 2007 at 12:12 pm
Much better than last time, thank goodness. Though still wobbly. I’m paying careful attention, so that if I become too wobbly, I can get help ASAP.
sleep doctor
Jan 26, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Add to that list — get enough sleep and reduce nighttime exposure to blue rays in house lights — studies have shown that these rays suppress melatonin production and can actually contribute to sleeplessness and depression in mothers.
kbaggott
Jan 26, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Ratphooey- Glad to hear that.
Sleep doctor- I wish I could tell new mothers to get enough sleep and I struggled with putting it in or leaving it out. Unfortunately, it’s pretty much impossible to get enought sleep with a newborn and obsessing about not getting enough rest isn’t helpful to anyone.
What exactly are blue rays?
Dylan Emrys, M.A. - pre and perinatal psychology
Jan 26, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Nice list!
Also remember to talk to your baby, knowing her regualtion and brain development is profoundly influenced by your moods can help by 1) motivating mom’s to seek help for herself and 2)being aware of any effects on baby that can be addressed.
kbaggott
Jan 27, 2007 at 12:45 am
Thanks Dylan!
Dr. Dean Raffelock
Jan 28, 2007 at 10:49 am
My name is Dr. Dean Raffelock. I have been specializing in postpartum nutrient, hormone, and neurotransmitter replacement for 2 decades. I am the lead author of ther book A NATURAL GUIDE TO PREGNANCY AND POSTPARTUM HEALTH Avery-2003. Mamawell asked me to check in on the website that she like a lot. I do want to say that our research shows that just continuing to take prenatal vitamins (even with fish oils) for postpartum nutrient recovery is inadeqaute to fully recover all the nutrients lost in making baby’s body, the placenta, breastfeeding, caring for a new baby etc. We recommend the only clinically tested complete postnatal nutrient program on the market called After baby Boost. More info at pregnancyrecovery.com
kbaggott
Jan 28, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Hi Dean- As I have said before, we love experts and I would be happy to blog the research papers behind clinical trials that meet all the scientific and professional standards and have appeared in an appropriate peer-reviewed journal.
I would love it if you were commenting as a doctor. Unfortunately, you’re also selling vitamins and I am afraid your business interests do taint the sincerity and authority of your comments.
The post reflects what major research hospitals, such as the Hospital for Sick Children and the Britich NHS (that has just advised its doctors to recommend fish oils over anti-depressants) have advised their patients. As unfair as it may be to a small businessman like yourself, publically accountable medical bodies and boards are the authority on these issues.
Dr. Dean Raffelock
Jan 28, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Hi Kate,
Actually I am a doctor of 30 years,having earned 4 board certifications, and passionate about helping postpartum women first and foremost because my mother and my wife’s mother both had severe emotional problems after giving birth.This had major deleterious effects on our families. Our clinical study is in the process of peer review.I’ll let you know when it is published. Let’s be clear though that most studies are paid for by drug companies to sell their products. Now that Omega 3 oils are also available as presciption drugs (for a mere $118 per bottle) instead of $12-15, there’s surprisingly lots of new “research” coming out on the “medical” benefits of Omega 3s.
Our product was put through a double blind, placebo controlled clinical trial using a leading prenatal as the placebo. After Baby Boost outperformed the prenatal in every category: fatigue, despondency, mood swings, irritability, sleeplessness, joint and muscle pains, dry skin, hair, nails, vaginal dryness and more. At my wife’s insistance I took time out of my busy practice and life to formulate this product based upon many years of blood lab testing on postpartum women for 34 fatty acids, 20 amino acids, intracellualr minerals including heavy metals, antioxidants, organic acids (urine), hormones, and neurotransmitter metabolites. I then formulated a product and wrote a large personal check to pay for the study. So you and your readers can decide if I am predominatly “a small businessman” just trying to sell vitamins or a dedicated doctor committed enough to do things right including paying for a real study so we knew that the product we formulated was safe and effective for nursing and non-nursing mothers.
Thanks for letting me respond Kate.
Here’s an article I wrote that I hope you and your readers will find helpful no matter what nutrients they choose to take:
THE DEEP NEED FOR A POSTNATAL NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM FOR ALL POSTPARTUM WOMEN.
by Dr. Dean Raffelock
Throughout the past 30 years in private practice, hundreds of women have told me they felt that their current health problems started soon after the birth of their child. The child may have been her first or fifth, and might now be a teenager or even a grown man or woman, but the mother remembers the postpartum onset of her symptoms as if it were yesterday.
The symptoms that usually start within the first to twelfth postpartum months vary widely among mothers. A few of the most common are depression, chronic fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, lack of confidence, loss of sex drive and passion, muscle and joint pains, unhealthy skin and hair, digestive disturbances, bladder problems, heart disease, asthma, and a host of troubling emotions and moods swings. A woman can be puzzled, frustrated, even embarrassed when she reveals symptoms that have plagued her for years. She may have shared these self-observations with doctors only to find that they were not worthy of an acknowledgement or comforting comment from her physician. Any attempt on her part to connect the birth of one of her children with those symptoms may have been met with skepticism or passed over. Yet, she can’t shake the feeling that something about that particular birth began her health decline.
Her observations do have validity and merit. What most mainstream medical practitioners don’t fully take into consideration is that a baby’s body is formed and made entirely of nutrients donated by the mother’s body. Her child’s brain, eyes, muscles, bones, organs, glands, nerves, skin, tissues and fluids are completely comprised of the nutrients taken from its mother’s bloodstream via the placenta.
If there is a lack of vital nutrients, the mother’s body is the first one that is deprived because her developing baby is Mother Nature’s priority. All mothers need to consciously replenish their lost nutritional and energetic reserves during the postpartum period. If this isn’t done, they might end up spending the rest of their lives wondering why they “just haven’t felt the same since the baby was born.”
The energy demands of caring for a newborn can further drain and deplete the mother’s nutrient reserves, especially if she is breastfeeding and sleep-deprived. If a woman has lost a great deal of blood while birthing her baby, the need for replenishing the nutritional components of blood is even more critical. Women who undergo Cesarean section also need to restore nutrient reserves; not only have they become mothers, they have had to have major surgery in the process. Women who lose a good deal of blood during the birth process and who don’t replenish key nutrients might experience light-headedness and throbbing headaches, along with extreme fatigue, sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression.
A new mother is also faced with the stress of integrating the intense needs of a new baby into her lifestyle while tending to her mate and perhaps other children and returning to work. All of these responsibilities that women - and those who are cared for by them - have taken for granted for millennia demand high-quality nutrients. Our food supply presently contains only half the nutrients that food contained in the 1940s due to the nutrient depletions in our soil. This fact makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for a mother to fully replenish the nutrient reserves her body donated to make her baby’s body solely from the food she eats. Eating highly refined and processed “junk” foods further depletes vital nutrients, which deepens the need to replenish postnatal nutrients even more.
Every physiologic process in the human body depends upon nutrients. The most important time to consciously replenish postpartum nutrient reserves begins immediately after giving birth and extends to 24 months postpartum. The failure to do this often sets the stage for chronic health problems that may last for decades.
There was a time that women throughout the globe would be given their placenta in some edible form to consume directly postpartum, much like dogs and cats do instinctively. The placenta contains highly concentrated amounts of the nutrients and hormones that the mother has lost through giving birth. The fact that eating one’s placenta is now culturally distasteful further supports the need to make a concerted effort to consume the appropriate nutrients and nourishing foods necessary for rebuilding and replenishing the new mother’s donated nutrient reserves.
Presently, about 30 million Americans take anti-depressant drugs. The majority of these are postpartum women! Many doctors prescribe Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and a host of other anti-depressant drugs before considering whether the mother’s depression, fatigue, or lethargy might be caused by postpartum nutrient depletion. Postpartum nutritional depletion can cause a physiological depression that is far too often misdiagnosed as a mental/emotional depression. This is a medical short-sightedness that needs to change so that postpartum women will receive better care. In most cases a postnatal nutrient recovery program should be the very first thing a doctor thinks of and prescribes for postpartum women presenting these symptoms; especially those with no history of depression, anxiety, or fatigue prior to giving birth.
If one does need the assistance of antidepressant drugs, these drugs contain no nutrients, so the need to replenish nutrient reserves still exists and should be addressed to prevent other health problems. It is fine to take a postnatal nutritional program and an antidepressant medication simultaneously. The need for high potency postnatal nutrients is greater now than ever before because the pace of life keeps getting faster, more complex and stressful.
Omega-3 oils are robbed from the mother’s body at a very high rate via the placenta to help form her baby’s brain, eyes, nerves, and cellular membranes. Breast feeding robs even more Omega 3 oils from a postpartum woman’s body because it is removed from her body to form the milk her body is producing. Many studies show the importance of Omega 3 oils to relieve depression, dry skin, thin hair and nails, fatigue and prevent heart disease in postpartum women. Omega 3 oils are an essential ingredient in a good postnatal nutrient program to assist a mother to replenish her nutrient reserves.
All the major nutrients are taken from mother’s body to help form baby’s body. Alpha Lipoic Acid and coenzyme Q10 are essential for the body to make energy. Without enough of these two essential nutrients the energy producing mitochondria in our cells will often make only 2 units of ATP (cellular energy) instead of 39 units of ATP per cycle. These two deficiencies are major causes of postpartum fatigue and mood swings. These two nutrients along with B vitamins, minerals including calcium and magnesium are also essential nutrients to help a mother replenish her postpartum nutrient reserves and should be included in a good postnatal nutrient program.
Postpartum mothers require a nutritious diet, adequate sleep, moderate exercise and a high quality postnatal nutrient program. Prenatal vitamins do not adequately supply all of the nutrients that new mothers require after bringing new life into this world. A high quality postnatal nutrient program should be an integral part of the pregnancy recovery program required for all postpartum women to replenish their nutrient reserves. This can assist new mothers to not only regain their health and prevent later health problems, but also to allow her the best chance of happily raising her family and having other healthy pregnancies and healthy children if desired.
Dr. Dean Raffelock is the lead author of A NATURAL GUIDE TO PREGNANCY AND POSTPARTUM HEALTH published by Avery, Putnam, Penguin in 2003. Dr. Raffelock has taught research based clinical nutrition for numerous medical organizations over many years, formulates nutritional products for a number of nutritional companies and has a holistic practice in Boulder, Colorado
kbaggott
Jan 28, 2007 at 10:30 pm
Dean-
Omega 3s for under $8 are available at any drug store.
Again, when your research studies have been published in a peer reviewed journal, we will look at it.
It is also your responsibility to submit your articles for publication, a process that should not be difficult for someone with 30 years experience and 4 board certifications.
Dylan
Jan 28, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Wow.
Dean, might I suggest you create your own website? Sounds like you have good info and are passionate about what you do.
Blogs are about community, not advertising…if you had a site, you could link it to your name here, and people could go, if interested, and read all you have to say.
Kate, thanks for holding to the standards.
Dr. Dean Raffelock
Jan 29, 2007 at 10:24 am
Thanks Dylan. My website is pregnancyrecovery.com
Best wishes to you all-DR
Dylan
Jan 29, 2007 at 10:29 am
Ok…thanks back atcha, Dean.
Kate
Jan 30, 2007 at 1:46 am
Dylan,
Thanks for stepping in.
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