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A new study finds that women who give birth in the fall and winter are more likely to experience postpartum depression
Could longer, darker days be a trigger for postpartum depression? Yes, according to the results of a new study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Women who give birth in the fall and winter months are more prone to experience severe baby blues.
A group in Sweden at Uppsala University asserts that the amount of daylight in the seasons affect chemical pathways in the brain that are related to depression.
More than 2,000 women who gave birth over a 1-year period were studied, and out of every 100 mothers, between 6 and 15 reportedly complained of postpartum depression symptoms according to the amount of time that had passed since they gave birth and the season in which they did it.
Mothers who kill their children often feel isolated.
We were all shocked when we heard last week that Lashanda Armstrong had killed herself and three out of her four children when she purposely drove into the Hudson River. For some of us it was reminiscent of the Andrea Yates case in which Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub one by one. It is horrifying to think that a mother would intentionally kill her own children, but it’s not uncommon. In fact, experts say it happens more often than we’d all like to think.
Experts think that cases such as these occur at least 100 times per year, and surprisingly mothers are more likely than fathers to kill their children aged 5 and under. For so many of us, we can’t imagine how a mother can do such a thing but that is exactly the problem. Because we assume that a mother has such a strong bond with her child, we assume that many women are simply going through a rough period in their life, but remaining a good mother. It’s not always the case.
Some mothers are mentally incapacitated. Many others suffer, often silently, from severe depression. The horrendous situation crosses poverty lines and occurs in all types of households.
Depression in new dads is real, common and treatable. What are the signs?
New dads have been depressed for years. But not until last year did fathers and post-partum depression get any attention. A meta-analysis of studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that one in 10 dads experienced some sadness after the birth of their child.
A look at 28,000 fathers found that around 14 percent of new fathers in the U.S. experienced some form of depression right after birth. That number jumps to 25 percent with the kid reached 3 to 6 months old.
As with Postpartum Depression in women, Paternal Postnatal Depression isn’t a matter of bucking up and embracing life. It can have serious consequences on the man, his family and especially, his child. Continue reading »
Heather Armstrong's first baby is 10 years old and strong!
Yesterday, mom-blogging hit a milestone: it turned 10 years old.
No, I know. Web logs (ha! “web logs”) have been around more than 10 years. And moms started writing them more than 10 years ago, too.
But yesterday, dooce.com, THE mom-blog, the one that turned personal blogging into something more than a list with some commentary … the blog that, I dare say, pulled back the teddy-bear patterned curtain and got people gawking at parenting … had a birthday. Continue reading »
Weighing the benefits and risks for baby
It’s an important question for a lot of moms: should you stay on psychiatric medications while pregnant?
This week the FDA issued a warning to doctors about pregnant women on antipsychotics (a class of medications used primarily for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia), saying that newborns whose mothers were taking these drugs were at risk for having abnormal muscle movements and withdrawal symptoms, including agitation, sleepiness, tremors, trouble breathing and eating after birth.
But it’s a complicated question — what should a mom do if meds are helping her but she’s worried about the baby? Here’s what the research says: Continue reading »
A new study finds depressed moms respond differently to their crying babies than nondepressed moms
The sound of a crying baby can be enough to break the heart of any parent, but moms suffering from depression react differently to it than healthy moms.
A new study in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience reveals the brain scans of depressed moms were “muted” compared to nondepressed moms in regard to how each react to their crying babies.
The brain scans of healthy moms revealed “activation” in areas connected to the processing of reward and motivation, but the brains of those suffering from depression showed no such response.
Is mommy blogging all it's cracked up to be? Probably, if you're Heather Armstrong.
anildash Anil Dash
Hi @dooce, I’ve got a newborn son & just read about you in the New York Times. Where are the parenting tips on your site? I can’t find them!
dooce Heather B. Armstrong
Oh hi! @anildash just go with this: 1. Mock your son endlessly! 2. Call him names you wouldn’t call your worst enemy! 3. ROLL IN THE DOUGH!
anildash Anil Dash
@dooce are racist names okay? He responds to those.
dooce Heather B. Armstrong
@anildash perfect. Also? No hugging!
That exchange from earlier today on Twitter, is, I believe, what you call mommy blogger humor. At least I’m pretty sure it is. I don’t know who Anil Dash is, but Heather Armstrong, or Dooce, is, like, the Queen Bee of Mommy Bloggers. And from what I know about her, she’s pretty funny, among other things.
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