Baby Blues
Actionable step:
Take a peek at this checklist after two to three weeks and check off all that apply. Then, share this with your partner, your mom, your sister, your best friend, your doctor or me. Let us into your head and let us know what’s going on; we won’t think you’re a bad mom and we want the opportunity to love you and support you.
Based off of the answers, we can help you find the support you need (or be the support you need! sometimes we drop the ball and just need a little kick in the pants) and help you get over the hump.
And do this checklist at any point in the postpartum period. End of month two, beginning of month four, right before you go back to work. Mood disorders, just like other illnesses like cancer or the flu, aren’t timed or predictable and can strike whenever they so please. And just like any sickness, getting better is way easier when we commit to treating it.
- Research says that 85% of birthing people will experience the baby blues, and I always say that the other 15% were lying when they said they didn’t.
- Experience the baby blues is a bit of an expectation that I have from all parents. For example, if in pre-pregnancy you weren’t sleeping, working 24/7, not eating well and relatively isolated from friends and family (or having to entertain them when you’re not physically or emotionally prepared/wanting to) then I imagine you’d probably feel a bit blue too.
- What are the baby blues? Feeling ‘blue’ of course, which is sadness, tears, feeling down, but you might also feel irritable, indecisive, anxious, guilty, overwhelmed, misunderstood, or alone. All of these feelings, and more, will be present at some point in the first two weeks and the best way to get through them is to let them happen.
- Bottling up, holding back, resisting, ignoring, or shoving down will only make these feelings rear their head twice as furiously the next time and sometimes twice as intensely. Irritability can turn into rage, overwhelm can turn into feelings of doom or even a breakdown, indecisiveness can turn into avoiding friends or family or deep feelings of shame and hopelessness. It’s a silly quote from when we are kids, but the weight of sadness is really divided when we share it just like feelings of joy are multiplied when we share those too.
- Baby blues for the first two to three weeks are normal and common, but note any feelings that persist or get stronger. Often anxiety sticks around, sometimes deep-seated guilt, other times it’s a yearning for life to go back to what it used to be or feelings of bleakness for what lays ahead. Any and all of these are a sign that the baby blues might be turning into something bigger and it’s best to nip that in the bud ASAP.
Actionable step:
Take a peek at this checklist after two to three weeks and check off all that apply. Then, share this with your partner, your mom, your sister, your best friend, your doctor or me. Let us into your head and let us know what’s going on; we won’t think you’re a bad mom and we want the opportunity to love you and support you.
Based off of the answers, we can help you find the support you need (or be the support you need! sometimes we drop the ball and just need a little kick in the pants) and help you get over the hump.
And do this checklist at any point in the postpartum period. End of month two, beginning of month four, right before you go back to work. Mood disorders, just like other illnesses like cancer or the flu, aren’t timed or predictable and can strike whenever they so please. And just like any sickness, getting better is way easier when we commit to treating it.