Pregnancy & Postpartum
Let's Talk About Normal Postpartum Adjustment and the Baby Blues
Becoming a new parent can be wonderful and also extremely stressful, and adjusting has many ups and downs. At least 80% of new mothers experience the baby blues following the birth of a child. The Baby Blues involve feelings of exhaustion, irritation, and sadness, starting between 1 and 3 days after giving birth and lasting up to fourteen days.
Know that it is common to feel like you are in a "fog," highly emotional, easily angry, and not yourself during the first months after having a child.
Postpartum is HARD. We are here to help.
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders affect 1 in 5 women
Did You Know?
What are Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders (PMADs)?
These are a group of symptoms that can affect women during pregnancy and the postpartum period, causing emotional and physical problems that make it hard to function effectively and enjoy life. PMADs can begin any time within the first year of your child's life.
Mood disorders, such as depression, can include symptoms of sadness, loss of pleasure, difficulty concentrating and changes in energy. Changes in appetite and sleep, anger, irritability, guilt, lack of interest in the baby, and sometimes even thoughts of harming the baby or yourself can also be a big struggle for a momma with postpartum depression. 1 in 7 women experiences postpartum depression in the first three months after giving birth and 1 in 5 women experience PPD in the first year.
Anxiety disorders often include symptoms such as worrying too much, panic attacks, irritability and obsessions relating to something bad happening to you or your baby. 1 in 10 women experiences postpartum anxiety, and it can begin during pregnancy.
If these feelings interfere with your normal functioning, coping abilities, or parenting, it is important to seek support from your support network and/or a professional.
In the postpartum period, new parents often seek support to help manage the often overwhelming challenges of new parenthood, which may include processing feelings related to childbirth, managing personal and societal expectations, and developing coping skills when adjusting to the new role of parenthood. This sometimes looks like identifying "mom guilt," managing the new mom "brain fog," setting boundaries with family and friends, upping our self-care game, and understanding feelings of rage towards partners.
How Can We Help?
We offer supportive services for new and expecting parents, including a range of treatment options for women experiencing perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs).
Whether you are looking for individual psychotherapy, a therapy or support group, nutrition support, movement therapy or support (e.g. gentle yoga or pilates for the pregnant/postpartum parent to target concerns relating to your pelvic floor and diastasis recti), or postpartum doula services (for one on one newborn support, sleep consultation, and feeding support), we are in it with you all the way.
