Pregnancy, Babies And Mental Health: What You Really Need To Know

The cost of mental health for pregnant women and new mums has been estimated to cost the NHS £8bn a year.

Which makes us wonder, what on earth does pregnancy really do to our brains, how worried should we be and what can we do about it?

Clearly having a baby is a mind-boggling huge life change, so it's realistic to assume that it will affect all women emotionally in some way - to a greater or lesser extent.

"I would be very surprised to find any woman who feels just like their old self after giving birth," says doula and parenting writer Rebecca Schilling.

"It's something you can prepare for but the impact of giving birth and becoming a mother combined with the difficulties of sleep deprivation and work of looking after a baby is something you can't deal with until it happens. And you don't know how you'll react when you are in that situation."

Can pregnancy harm your mental health?

According to The Department of Health, one in five women develops some form of mental health issue during pregnancy and the months after childbirth. It says that depression, anxiety and psychoses, such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, are all a risk, and that it is investing in mental health training for its midwives and health workers.

A fifth sounds pretty high, and with conditions such as schizophrenia being discussed as a risk of pregnancy, you'd be forgiven for being put off babies altogether. But Schilling is a bit more reassuring.

"You have to be careful about labelling women who are finding a life experience difficult as mentally ill. Modern women have a particularly difficult job adjusting because it's such a huge change.

"We don't live in close communities anymore so we don't have much interaction with babies before we have our own, add to that the physical experience of birth and extreme hormone changes and it's not surprising women experience mental and emotional difficulties in the early weeks and months of motherhood."

Alison Edwards, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at Birmingham City University tells us that antenatal mental health is a fairly new area of investigation.

"It's not really been high on the agenda for a long time but now they’re recognising that antenatal depression can be just as serous as postnatal, so if you are concerned it really is important to speak to your GP."

Childbirth has a lot to answer for

Birth and its aftercare predictably have huge implications for women's emotional wellbeing.

"It's actually quite common for women to say that their birth negatively impacted on how they felt about themselves, their babies and their partners," Schilling explains.

"For many women, birth is something that makes them feel really good about themselves and their new family. But for many others, it doesn't. And adjusting to this new life while feeling bad about yourself can affect how they bond with their baby and interact with their partner."

It could be that they've had a difficult birth  - and post-traumatic stress disorder is not uncommonly diagnosed. But even if everything went to plan, the huge physical and hormonal overhaul of the body can be enough to cause everything from mind emotional upset to full-blown depression or even psychosis.

How common is actual psychosis after having a baby?

Here's the better news:

"It's very important to have these things in perspective," says Schilling. "Post partum psychosis is very rare. It only affects one in every 1,000 mums, though it's very serious and frightening if it happens.

"It’s really important to be aware if you’re feeling seriously different from normal or if your partner notices, you need to involve your health care professionals."

She adds: "Being terrified about it is unnecessary. While lots of women do find it tough, psychosis is unlikely. And the best way to help with any kind of emotional experience is look for good support from friends and family as well as your health care professionals.

"As a doula, I've been seeing more and more new mums asking for the type of services I provide because it's someone external to talk to." (For mor info on doulas check out Doula UK.)

What can we do?

The most important thing to do is to be aware. That's not to say worry about it and panic, but be aware that occasionally it happens and check in with your emotions as often as you can.

Edwards says: "Your partner or a family member might notice before the you do, so it's important that they know what to do if they're worried that you're not coping or doesn't seem to be recovering from the birth well.

"You know, mum's going to be tired because she's got a new baby, and not everyone bonds straight away, as strange as it sounds, so these are normal things. I's normal to cry, but if that doesn't lift, there could be more going on. And if she starts neglecting herself, or even the baby, it's definitely worth getting her to the GP."

Three out of four mums won't experience mental health concerns, beyond a touch of the baby blues (you might find yourself sobbing uncontrollably on the third or fourth day after birth thanks to an enormous surge of hormones) so it's important not to get hung up on the idea.

"It's a very small percentage of women," says Edwards. "Breastfeeding seems to reduce the risk, according to some studies, and there are even those who advocate eating the placenta to ward of depression."

You might not need to go that far, but be kind to yourself and try to think about how your feeling when you can - and get your partner to do the same.

Pregnancy and parenthood is a massive life change, but it shouldn't permanently upset your mental balance. And if children are something you want from your life, we're sure most mums would say it's definitely worth it.

[Essentials For A Healthy Pregnancy]
[Women Don't Know How To Get Pregnant]