Care For New Mums

Post natal depression (and antenatal depression) is more common than you think, affecting up to 20% of New Zealand mothers. Having a baby is a joyous occasion, but it can trigger a depressive episode and have a huge effect on the wider family. This week is Post Natal Depression Awareness Week, so if you know someone who has just had a baby, or is about to, familiarise yourself with some of the symptoms of ante or post natal depression, to help them get the help they need as early as possible. New mothers are often overwhelmed, but keep watch for unusual signs in your daughter, sister, niece or friend.

Some risk factors for antenatal and postnatal depression include:

• history of depression
• traumatic birth
• unplanned pregnancy
• ongoing stress causing high anxiety during pregnancy
• financial difficulties; relationship difficulties
• unwell baby with extra-high level of need
• breastfeeding problems
• single parent
• young parent (under 22 years old)
• long-term sleep-deprivation (less than 6hrs continuous sleep)
• poor family support.

Symptoms of anxiety and depression can develop during pregnancy, but often be attributed to ‘normal worries,’ or minimised without proper examination. A recent survey by Mothers Helpers found than 63% of symptoms begin during pregnancy, but less than 20% are correctly diagnosed.

Founder of the charitable trust Mothers Helpers and Registered Nurse Kristina Paterson was one of those mothers.

“Those first nine months of my son’s life were so hard. My mood was so low I was crying every single day. My anxiety was so overwhelming, I would beg my husband to return home from work because I felt I couldn’t cope with this little baby on my own. In the end it was the lack of energy that pushed me to see the doctor – I just couldn’t bear it anymore.”

Seeing the doctor was just the beginning of her journey of recovery. Medication was not a miracle-cure and Kristina found there were gaps in the care offered, which inspired her to start the charitable trust Mothers Helpers. In the five years since, Mothers Helpers has helped hundreds of mothers in their recovery from perinatal depression. “I really wanted to provide them with the kind of support that would help them to recover as quickly as possible,” Kristina says.

The organisation runs a 10-week Postnatal Depression Recovery Programme, which Kristina helped write. “I decided to pull together everything I’d learned over the years about recovery – everything that studies showed helped mothers to recover,  we put in our programme” Kristina says. “The result is that the majority of mothers that attended had no depressive symptoms at the end of the course.”

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