A daunting issue that the majority of mothers are in some aspect intimidated by, and unfortunately, a large percentage affected by. I remember being worried that if I suffered with PND that it would mean I didn’t have a bond with my baby and that I was doing everything wrong. I can vouch for going through about 6 weeks of it after my baby was born and can hand on heart say that not for one minute did I have any doubt about my love for my daughter.

In my opinion, a huge part of PND can be the hideously frightening realisation that you are now responsible for a little life. But then that’s motherhood for you – desired and longed for yet commonly towing a form of depression and anxiety behind it. In my case, I put a lot of it down to feeling plain exhausted! One minute I’d be feeling right as rain, the next I’d be flooding the place with tears with no reason as to why. Once or twice something as unimportant as my post birth, wobbly tum was enough to start me off!

I imagine that a lot of women (like I did) feel like everyone is watching your every move just waiting for you to make a mistake or the opportunity to start the dreaded “Well, in my day…” line. Personally, I had the ever pressing need to prove to my family that I could be a good mum and handle everything instantly, where in reality, it takes a few weeks (or even months) to get yourself, the housework etc back on track. I think that I pushed myself too hard, so please, take my advice on this one and try to relax. Get your other half to help out too (I fully recommend taking advantage for as long as you can possibly milk it). When in a state of depression though, I do understand that sometimes it is nigh on impossible to work out simply why and add on little pressing factors like these as being part of the blame.

It is such a swamp of emotion too; feeling like your drowning, tired, tearful, sad, stressed, under observation, occasionally not even knowing how you feel whilst battling with the happy feelings like love for your baby. Even though I did get PND it was a fairly mild form, so I deeply sympathise with those of you that have experienced or are experiencing a bad case.

Although it may not spring straight to mind and sometimes can be something that you don’t want other people to know about, talking can do wonders – I am a firm believer in a problem shared is a problem halved. If you don’t want a family member or friend to discuss your feelings with, there are many different places that you can get a shoulder to cry on with complete anonymity, mums-room being one of them. You will almost certainly find people that are either going through or have already experienced the same thing as you so advice and support are guaranteed. Alternatively, you can talk to either your doctor or health visitor, and don’t let this intimidate you…they wont take your baby off you for feeling depressed.

Finally, I hope that for those of you that are suffering with PND that you start feeling better and remember, DON’T SUFFER IN SILENCE!