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.