Postpartum Clinic is Here to Help New Moms

There are clinics for this, and clinics for that, so it is pretty damn surprising that the very first free-standing post partum depression clinic in the country is finally opening this week. Why wasn’t there one before? With so many women falling victim to issues after having their babies, it’s a shock that not only has there not been a clinic specializing in postpartum depression before, but that they aren’t all over. Hopefully, this is something that is going to change.

Starting this week, the University of North Carolina hospital in Chapel Hill will be home to the nation’s first “free-standing perinatal psychiatry unit.” Will this be the first of many? Continue reading »

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Did pre-baby blues darken your pregnancy?

For some women, a case of the baby blues can set in even before they give birth. Anxiety and depression during pregnancy aren’t just unpleasant: they can be dangerous to a mom-to-be and her unborn baby. Mood problems can contribute to premature birth, low birth weight, weight loss for the mom and substance abuse issues.

It’s not just hormones or brain chemistry that get us down during pregnancy. It’s also the support, or lack of support, we get from our partners.

A new study finds that women with strong relationships are better able to weather ordinary stressors and less likely to report feeling depressed or anxious during pregnancy.

Continue reading »

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Pediatricians urged to screen for postpartum depression

Earlier this year, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a recommendation in which they strongly urged ob-gyns to begin routinely screening new mothers for depression during and after pregnancy. However, when such screenings do happen, they usually take place in the hospital, shortly after birth, or six weeks later at an after-delivery checkup.  But because postpartum depression often shows up in the first week or two after giving birth, many women suffering from depression are still not being diagnosed.

And diagnosing depression in a new mother is important.  In addition to mom’s suffering, studies have shown that left untreated, postpartum depression can have a negative impact on a infant’s cognitive, neurologic, and motor skill development.  What’s more, depression can interfere with mother-child attachment bonding, which can lead to behavior problems, anxiety and mood disorders through childhood and adolescence. Continue reading »

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Amazing news!  New research published in the Archives of General Psychiatry has lead scientists to believe they may soon be able to prevent postpartum depression through the use of dietary supplements.  This could help the 13 percent of all new mothers, according to Science Daily, who suffer from clinical-level postpartum depression.

It has long been known that estrogen levels drop 100-1000 fold in the first three to four days postpartum, but researchers Julia Sacher from the MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and her colleague Jeffrey H. Meyer from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, have determined that “proportional to this estrogen-loss, levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) increase dramatically throughout the female brain.”  High levels of MAO-A break down the neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which are all mood-lifters. Continue reading »

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There’s a shocking cure for the baby blues: sleep deprivation.

The New York Times reports that depressed new mothers who stay up all night will find their depression lifted by morning. They say:

Sleep deprivation used as a treatment for depression is efficacious and robust: it works quickly, is relatively easy to administer, inexpensive, relatively safe and it also alleviates other types of clinical depression.

Most new parents are painfully familiar with sleep deprivation, and I’ve never heard anyone say it made life with a new baby better. What’s up with this research? Continue reading »

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Post-partum depression affects around 13 percent of all women who have given birth. But often it doesn’t show up until two or three months after birth. That’s well past the final six-week check-up, which means a possibly depressed woman wouldn’t be seen by a doctor until she has already been broadsided by depression.

What would help is if PPD could be predicted. Spanish researchers think they’ve found a way to anticipate nearly 80 percent of all cases — 80 PERCENT! That’s huge.

The model they developed diagnoses a likelihood for PPD even before a mother shows symptoms. Continue reading »

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