7 Steps to Stop Postpartum Depression Before It Starts
Familiarity with the signs of depression and advanced preparation for changes that accompany the birth of a baby may help prevent postpartum depression, which experts now realize affects men as well as women. Mental health professionals recommend:
- Attending hospital-sponsored parenting classes.
- Designing a financial plan to address expected baby-related expenses.
- Devising strategies for shared childcare responsibilities. The father, for example, may handle a nighttime feeding by using formula or pumped breast milk.
- Addressing marital or relationship issues before the child is born.
- Hiring domestic help or asking a family member to baby-sit once a week.
- Understanding that sex lives change with the birth and may not return to normal for a year or more.
- Joining a support group for new fathers or reading about depression on websites such as PostpartumMen.com, which includes a screening test for men, and on this page of the National Institute of Mental Health website.
Reader Comments
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It's so wonderful to see someone addressing this issue. A baby changes everything for women and men. But as a professional Lactation Consultant I have a concern about the suggestion for shared parenting responsibilities. Asking Dad to give a breastfed baby a bottle of pumped milk at night is not conducive to breastfeeding. If a mom skips a feeding her body will make less milk and her supply will go down. Instead of telling dads to give the baby a bottle at night have dad bring the baby to mom, or better yet allow the baby to sleep in their bed. That way everyone will get more sleep!
Kathy Abbott, IBCLC
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