She’s so right.
Around 15 to 20 per cent of Irish women are affected by post natal depression.
Many mums aren’t aware enough of the symptoms to know that they have it while those who do know often times stay silent about it.
I suffered with post natal depression after giving birth to my first child and I’ll be honest I didn’t seek out treatment.
I just took it as something that all mums go through, a misconception that could have ended badly. Luckily it didn’t.
One mum recently tweeted about the reality of post natal depression and how those around new mums can help and it really hit home for me.
All these awareness campaigns for postpartum depression and I’ve never seen a suggestion on how to prevent it that includes “make sure the new mom sleeps in large blocks at some point”
— Laura Dorwart, Ph.D. (@laurawritesit) October 29, 2019
Laura Dorwart, a mum and doctor, took to the social media platform to vent her frustration on how mums dealing with post natal depression are treated.
Dorwart got real about how counselling itself is not enough and that mums need to be able to look after their physical needs too;
“All the counseling and medication on earth won’t help you if you haven’t slept, eaten and showered.”
This is so true. I once had someone scoffed at the fact that new mums say they can’t shower and that we were just lazy.
Let me make this clear, new mums are anything but lazy. They are exhausted to the brink of tears. If a new mum says she can’t take a shower don’t laugh at her instead help her. Offer to watch the baby while she showers or even while she sleeps so she has the energy to stand in the shower.
I did the stuff; I went to maternal mental health during my pregnancy. They gave me medication to take after birth to “prevent” PPD and help me sleep. But there was no nursery and the room wasn’t accessible so my partner couldn’t help me so I *could* sleep.
— Laura Dorwart, Ph.D. (@laurawritesit) October 29, 2019
Laura brought up another point that I experienced while staying at the maternity hospital. After giving birth I couldn’t sleep.
Labour is exhausting. It’s called labour for a reason after all. After having both of my children I came up against the same problem, no sleep.
After hours of contractions and giving birth I was handed a crying baby and my husband was sent home. I was left on my home, almost falling asleep on top of my infant trying to soothe them.
Both times I checked out of the hospital sooner than I should have because the lack of sleep was driving me crazy.
Mums need more.
They need more support from the hospital and at home. They need more support from their doctors. They need more support from us.
Recently I wrote about how one of my friends took time off work to help me in my first week of motherhood and honestly it was the best gift that anyone could give.
While baby showers and presents are nice, at the end of the day, what a new mum really needs is your help and your time because both of those things are worth their weight in gold.
