Maternal Mental Health: Resources To Support Your Mental Health In Pregnancy & Postpartum
There are plenty of taboos and unspoken topics that overshadow motherhood, and today, we’re going to speak candidly about maternal mental health and sharing some resources that can help you prioritize your mental health in your everyday life.
In the world of pregnancy and motherhood, we’re no strangers to talking about the physical risks of pregnancy. But we don't talk about risk in the form of mental health conditions – and they take the lives of more women than pre-eclampsia, cancer, and delivery-related bleeding. In fact, over 80% of maternal deaths are preventable, with 1/4 of those being linked to mental health conditions.
We need to talk about it more. And that starts today.
Trigger Warning: This post includes discussion of depression, anxiety, and suicide.
What is mental health?
We all have mental health, just as we all have physical health. As much as we likely all know this, it’s important to take a moment to remind ourselves that we all have mental health, and we have to care for it the same way that we care for our bodies. If you’re part of the Baby2Body community of mamas and mamas-to-be, you probably have an interest in exercising and eating well for a strong, healthy body. So let’s make sure we give our mental health as much attention.
So what does it mean to struggle with it?
Struggling with your mental health doesn’t mean you’re weak, and it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It means that you’re a human being.
And just like physical health, knowing whether or not you’re technically “struggling” isn’t an easy question, and it doesn’t have a straightforward answer. Think about your physical health for a moment. What are your strengths, and what are your weaknesses? What ongoing aches and pains do you deal with? You may have little “niggles” or bumps in the road, like a twisted ankle or a tweaked shoulder–and you may have more ongoing, chronic issues like back pain or knee problems.
Think about your mental health like these physical symptoms.
You may struggle for a short period of time, in a more acute manner, like a twisted ankle. Or you may have ongoing back pain that you deal with every single day—this is comparable to living with a chronic mental health struggle like depression.
Because the back pain is tangible, we’re not afraid to talk about it—and I’m sure you know plenty of people who have back pain. You probably know plenty of people with depression, too—but most of them are suffering in silence.
How do we know?
Because statistics don’t lie—and the numbers tell us that worldwide, about 10% of pregnant women and 13% of women who have just given birth experience a mental disorder, primarily depression.
Women as a population are hit particularly hard, and they are twice as likely to develop depression as their male counterparts.
Women are also more likely to have suicidal thoughts.
It’s not a fun topic, and that’s why we need to talk about it. Suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal death in the US and is the leading cause of death in countries such as Japan, the UK, and Ireland.
Mental health conditions like depression and anxiety do not discriminate.
All women can develop mental disorders during pregnancy and in the first year after delivery, but factors like socioeconomic status, race, stress, and pre-existing (or family history of) mental health conditions increase risks. You can learn more in our post about mental health risk factors and inequality.
What should you be looking out for?
One of the most common maternal mental health conditions is postpartum depression – and it can often be chalked up to the "baby blues." While a drastic change in hormones will lead to mood changes and teariness in most women, it's important for you (and your friends, family, and partner) to be aware of the signs that this may be something more serious.
Signs of postpartum depression include:
The constant presence of negative thoughts or feelings
Anxiety about things that don’t normally bother you
Insomnia (unable to fall asleep) or Hypersomnia (very extended periods of sleep)
Finding no pleasure in being with your baby
Feeling resentment towards your baby
Avoiding seeing family or friends
Being extremely irritable, angry and/or tearful
Strong feelings of guilt
Lack of appetite
Low self-esteem and self-worth
Flat affect
When it comes to your own mental health, understanding the baby blues and how that differs from postpartum depression and anxiety is so important in knowing how to cope effectively.
You don't need to be diagnosed with a mental health condition to be validated.
Even if you aren't struggling with a diagnosable condition, you should still be doing your best to take care of your mental health. What you're feeling is real and valid, even if it's not diagnosed.
The baby blues is one of those things that gets glossed over when people talk about bringing baby home for the first time, but it’s critical that you know what to expect. Unfortunately, it’s normal to experience these feelings; it’s not technically a diagnosable mental illness and it does not require treatment, even though it affects up to 85% of women. But knowing how long the feeling will last and how you can cope in the meantime is important to moving through the baby blues in a healthy way.
Here’s some more advice on How To Tell If You Have The Baby Blues Or Postpartum Depression.
Reducing suicide rates starts with each of us.
You deserve to wake up feeling good in the morning, like your best and healthiest self, and you deserve happiness — so if you are not feeling this way on most days, recognize that something is not right. We promise there are resources that can help you and you deserve full and complete access to them.
Help is out there. And the sooner you reach out for help, the sooner you can be on the path to healing. Less than half of women experiencing depression seek treatment–but between 80 and 90% of those that do seek treatment are treated successfully using therapy and/or medication.
We know that oftentimes reaching out for help in these situations can come with shame or embarrassment, and we wish we could wash away those feelings away for you. They don’t serve you, and they surely don’t define you.
For all the mamas — or dads — who needed to read this today, we see you and we support you.
Mental health support & resources
If you’re struggling with depression and having suicidal thoughts please contact your nearest suicide prevention center immediately or follow the resources provided at the Mental Health Foundation or Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Recommendations to support your everyday mental health during pregnancy and postpartum
We need to open the conversation but we also need to start making our own mental health a priority all the time, not just when things get tough. Here are some simple things you can do to support your mental health in your everyday life.
These recommendations are focused on maintaining your mental health – if you are having feelings of depression, or suicide, or are struggling, you should seek help from a healthcare provider, charity, and friends or family.
Workshops & events
You can support your mental health by consciously seeking out workshops and learning new ways to support your mental health as your life and circumstances change.
SeekHer hosts online workshops and events around supporting your mental health during pregnancy and adding self-care into your day featuring experts both in person and mostly online! The next one (at the time of the posting of this article) will be on March 22 about cultivating a work-life harmony to help you foster a clearer headspace.
You can also see SeekHer’s founder Monica Mo talk about her own struggles with mental health and how we should be changing how we think about our wellness in this TedTalk.
Listen to podcasts
There are over 2 million podcasts out there to listen to and many are freely available! A recent study found that people who listened to more podcasts per month had a higher presence of meaning in life. Your purpose or meaning in life helps satisfy the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence -- all of which factor into your overall psychological and emotional wellbeing.
Here’s our recommendation:
The Body Brief is Baby2Body’s podcast & there are so many great episodes to listen to. Start with Connie Simmonds’ episode, which is all about handling the physical and psychological changes of pregnancy and postpartum.
Try journaling
A study in 2018 found that journaling down emotions not only reduces overall distress but also anxiety and depression symptoms in as little as 1 month. Another study found that postpartum women who wrote down their emotions had significantly lower anxiety levels than those who didn’t.
Here are some product recommendations to get you started:
Try a A 52-week guided journal to foster a year’s worth of self-love
Give The Five Minute Journal a go. Perfect for a busy new mama who doesn’t have time to journal
Focus on getting better sleep
Mental health & sleep are closely connected; living with a mental health problem can affect how well you sleep, and poor sleep can have a negative impact on your mental health. Studies show that having as little as 4.5 hours of sleep a night for just one week can leave you feeling more stressed, angry, sad, and mentally exhausted.
You probably know from experience that even 1 bad night’s sleep can impact your mood the next day – and during pregnancy and postpartum, sleepless nights can, unfortunately, become the norm. Try to get into a routine & prioritize sleep and rest when it’s possible. To help you get started, we’re loving The Body Shop's new Sleep skincare range, enriched with lavender and vetiver, a calming duo created especially for bedtime.
Here's a simple 5 step bedtime routine:
Cleanse and moisturize with the Sleep Relaxing Hair & Body Wash and Sleep Balmy Body Cream.
Slip into your comfiest PJs.
Spray your bed & pillow with Sleep Calming Pillow Mist.
Apply a few drops of Sleep Essential Oil Blend to your pulse points.
Close your eyes and get ready for your best sleep yet!
Here’s more on Pregnancy Insomnia: Why It Happens & How to Deal With It.
What do you do to make time for your mental health? Let us know in the comments.
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