How to Cope with Postpartum Depression

A diagnosis of postpartum depression is a serious issue to deal with and is made more complex by the care required of your newborn baby and any other young children you may have. These are a couple quick things you can do for yourself to help cope with postpartum depression.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Eat well. Be sure to include fruits, vegetables, low fat proteins and complex carbohydrates in your daily diet. This can be accomplished by making large hardy salads or well balanced meals and having them available to eat at all times.

2. Sleep when the baby sleeps. Although excessive tiredness does not cause postpartum depression it can exacerbate the symptoms and lead you to feel worse.

3. Ask for help. This can be help from a spouse, family, friends or a community network. There is no shame in needing help and you will be doing a service for both you and your baby by allowing others to help.

4. Talk to other moms, friends or a clinician about how you feel. Keeping your feelings inside will make the sense of loneliness and isolation worse.

5. Venture out with your baby. Fresh air is good for both of you and a trip out of the house can be a huge stress reliever for a new mother.

6. Take your time with household chores and other responsibilities. A new baby requires a lot of attention and can be a drain on your faculties, understand this about yourself and set your expectations accordingly.

Tips & Warnings

• Seek help immediately if you feel as though you might harm yourself or your baby.
• Postpartum depression is a medical diagnosis that can require counseling and medication and needs to be taken seriously.
• If you have the baby blues for more than two weeks, see your doctor to discuss the symptoms you have.

[Allandra]

on 9/18/2007 The most important thing to know is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Quite a lot of women suffer from post partum depression and you shouldn't consider yourself weak to ask for help. Nobody is going to judge you.