Bringing a baby home can be an overwhelming time in a woman’s life. However, for many women, the experience is never joyful due to the stress they go through during pregnancy. Some get over it sooner, while others take time to recover.
Many new mothers experience stress after the giving birth, which includes many health issues, mood swings, crying spells, and difficulty sleeping, as well as extensive crying spells. Many people go through it without knowing what is happening to them.
If you want to know what blue babies are and how it affects new mothers, you are at the right place. This guide aims to discuss the main symptoms and treatment of blue babies.
What are Baby Blues?
It is an intense feeling of sadness that a person might be experiencing postpartum depression. According to a survey, about 80% of mothers experience baby blues. It is a natural health condition that can occur to anyone regardless of income, race, identity, age, etc. Therefore, you are not responsible for the way you feel. Feeling sad and depressed after delivery does not mean you have done anything wrong.
Generally, new mothers face baby blues after 2 to 5 days of delivery. However, this depression condition can last up to 2 weeks. This mental illness usually resolves on its own and does not require any professional assistance. Anyhow, if the mother is still feeling depressed after two weeks, consult her healthcare provider.
The doctors will examine you if you have postpartum depression. It is because the signs of baby blues and postpartum depression are quite similar, but the former is expected to last longer.
What causes Baby Blues?
The major cause of feeling blue after baby birth is hormonal changes. After the baby’s birth, the level of hormones such as estrogen and progesterone significantly decreases, resulting in mood swings.
For some people, the thyroid gland hormones drop significantly, making them feel tired and sad. Lack of sleep and not eating well can also trigger this situation.
Emotional problems are another potential cause of baby blues. New mothers can be worried, confused, or sometimes afraid about taking care of their babies. The continuous overflow of these thoughts can make the mother feel sad, alienated, and depressed.
If you have felt depression in life, you are more likely to experience these feelings. Therefore, remember to overcome this situation by walking in an open environment , fresh air or doing whatever you like.
Are Baby Blues and Postpartum Depression the same?
A large number of women experience potential symptoms of Baby Blues right after the delivery. It can make a woman feel sad, depressed, isolated, and fatigued. You can also feel cranky or tearful, overwhelmed, and emotionally broken.
The normal baby blues are quite general, but if they get extensive and severe, it turns into postpartum depression. In this situation, you will have to go for professional assistance.
Symptoms of Postpartum Depression
It is different from baby blues. Hence, it is a more serious problem that should not be left untreated. Baby blues and postpartum depression or baby postpartum psychosis are interrelated terms, but the former is more severe and everlasting.
Here are some common postpartum depression symptoms.
- You can feel unnecessarily guilty or worthless. You can also feel overwhelmed, overflowing with emotions, or ultimately begin to get thoughts about death. Sometimes, people wish that they are not alive.
- The person can also have anxiety issues that prevent normal sleep even if there is no one around and the baby is sleeping soundly. in this case sometimes doctors prescribe sleeping light sleeping pills for relaxation.
- The new mother can also experience detachment from the partner and thinks they have failed to develop a bond well with the babies.
Postpartum Depression Risk factors
There is no single reason that triggers postpartum depression in new mothers. However, a wide range of risk factors contributes to this problem. Such as
Hormonal changes
The significant drop in estrogen, and progesterone, cause an overflow of emotions. Sometimes, thyroid level also drops, which leads to mild depression and fatigue. This rapid alteration in the hormones also changes the blood pressure, functioning of the immune system, and metabolism rate, which results in postpartum depression.
Physical change
Delivery does not only impact mental health but also causes some physical changes. The new mothers can be dealing with the physical pain due to C-sections, or even normal delivery might result in weight loss, making them insecure about their appearance.
Stress
New mothers sometimes stress that they may fail to offer their children optimal care to have good health and even survive. You can also feel overwhelmed due to the ability to provide proper care to the baby. However, all these adjustments take time to come to routine.
Tips to Manage the Baby Blues
If you are facing postpartum depression and do not want to visit the doctor, follow these tips to get over the situation.
Build a bond with your New Baby
The connection between a mother and an infant is called attachment, a crucial childhood task that should not be neglected. However, the success of this attachment allows a child to feel safe enough to develop. It also impacts how the baby will interact, talk and build relationships with the people in their life.
Postpartum depression can majorly affect this attachment, as the sad mother can be caring but also short-tempered, which can pull the baby apart. However, showing interest in bonding with your baby benefits the child’s psyche and pulls you out of depression.
Ask for Support and Help
Humans are considered social animals. If they stop interacting, they cannot flourish optimally. Optimal social contact relieves stress efficiently. New moms can get help from the people around them in the form of care for themselves and the baby after delivery.
Conversely, in today’s world, the mother is lonely. Here are some ideas that you can follow to connect to others.
Make relationships a priority: Do not put the unnecessary chore above the relationship. No matter how busy you are, make sure to spare some hours for your family members and friends.
Be expressive: do not keep your feelings to yourself. If you are feeling happy or sad, let the other person know. They will help you understand and deal with the situation.
Be a joiner: Instead of running from the situation, deal with postpartum blues. When you interact with society, you will find many similar examples. You can also join support groups that share there stories and help deal with postpartum depression.
Take Care of yourself
Self-care is the best form of care. The more you consider your psychological health and physical stability, the better you will feel. A few changing in your lifestyle can help you start living normally. Here is what you can do:
Skip the Housework: ensure that you are giving enough attention to the baby. Give yourself and your baby full-time.
Continue exercise: exercise is as effective as medicines for treating depression. Therefore, it is better to leave the bed soon and keep moving. There is no need to overdo it to get results.
Meditation: It is another source to improve mental health significantly. It helps you become more aware of what you need and what your goals are.
Do not compromise oversleep: Take as much sleep as you want. When you have an infant, getting eight hours of sleep becomes an unattainable luxury. However, you need to make sure that you are getting proper 6 hours of sleep to wake up fresh.
Make meal the Priority: when a person is not feeling well or is depressed, make your meal a priority. Good eating habits also help to begin a normal life smoothly.
Try to Strengthen your Relationship with Partner
According to a survey, more than 75 percent of divorces happen after childbirth. For a large number of couples, the relationship is the only source of emotional expression. However, the demand and baby get in the way and sometimes fracture the relationships.
To have a good life, you must follow these rules to strengthen relationships.
- Do not be the scapegoat
- Keep the communication lines convenient
- Ask for some couples’ time.
Treatment of Postpartum Depression
If the tips mentioned above did not prove to be functional, here are some treatments. If you are struggling with postpartum depression, you need to get treatment.
Therapy and Counseling
Effective therapy is a great solution for mood disorders in motherhood. In case you are facing marital difficulties or feel supported at home, you can visit a counselor.
Antidepressants
In some cases, postpartum depression pulls the person out of normal life. In these cases, the person is suggested to take some antidepressants. Anyhow, in this condition, no medicine should be taken without a prescription. The physician should closely monitor each medicine for effective and optimal results.
Hormone Therapy
It is another powerful treatment for baby blues and postpartum depression. This therapy includes estrogen replacement therapy with antidepressants. Certain risks are associated with the therapy, so make sure that all steps are under doctors’ observation.
Conclusion
Baby blues is a common condition experienced by new mothers. It triggers feelings of sadness and overwhelming emotions. It generally goes away in up to two weeks, but if it gets prolonged, it leads to postpartum depression.
In this situation, the person needs care and gentle behaviors to deal with mood swings. If the people around the new mother pamper her and take good care, she can recover without professional assistance.
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