From Baby Blues to Mama Happiness

In front of you lies a healthy, innocent baby, your lifelong dream – or so you thought – and you feel guilty when you catch yourself wishing for your old life back. You know that you should feel happy and overjoyed… yet inside, everything feels dull, tired, and empty. Is this the baby blues, or already the beginning of a postpartum depression? And perhaps you’re wondering whether you’re the only one who feels this way, and whether you’ll get out of this alone or if it would be good to seek support.

Glossy magazines and social media portray motherhood as a magical cloud of happiness, filled with peacefully sleeping, smiling babies who never spit up, never cry, and are content everywhere.

But the 24-hour presence with a baby and all their endless needs, sleep deprivation, hormonal storms, a completely different daily rhythm, breastfeeding stress, or a birth experience you cannot get out of your head – all of this can be extremely overwhelming.

Baby blues and postpartum depression are still taboo topics in our society. The profound hormonal changes after birth can trigger a depressive low – the baby blues. Pregnancy hormones drop dramatically, the placenta no longer produces feel-good hormones, and estrogen levels return to “non-pregnant.” Perhaps breastfeeding isn’t working right away, your body needs to recover from birth, your new role as a mother, the responsibility for your baby, and the intensity of your emotions can lead to crying, irritability, or deep overwhelm. Short-term emotional lows after birth are normal reactions to this huge life transition. But if these feelings and sadness persist, professional support is needed, along with an assessment of whether it is baby blues or postpartum depression.

There are paths toward happiness for you and your baby. I am here to support you.

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Signs

• You feel persistently joyless and exhausted and don’t know where to find strength and patience
• Your baby stresses you
• You feel like you’re in a fog
• You cry often even though you rarely cry otherwise
• You love your baby but don’t feel close to them
• You feel foreign to yourself
• You are tormented by worries and fears
• You care for your baby but feel emotionally flat while doing so
• You experience sleep disturbances and flashbacks
• The 24-hour presence feels suffocating, and sometimes you wish you could run away or simply disappear

Tips and Ideas for Baby Blues

• Don’t stay alone with this!
• Go for walks with your baby
• Tell your friend or partner how you are really feeling
• Talk to your gynaecologist, she is familiar with this topic
• If you want to know whether it is “just” baby blues or the beginning of a postpartum depression, fill out this questionnaire and discuss it with your gynaecologist or midwife: Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale

You have a right to support. If feelings of guilt or shame arise, don’t stay alone with them. Many mothers experience these emotions, you are not alone. Allow yourself to seek help.