What Are the Symptoms of Postpartum Depression?

Symptoms of postpartum depression (PDD) can be divided into three categories:

• Postpartum blues (baby blues). Very short in duration, may not require formal treatment but supportive care only
• Postpartum depression. Lasts longer, is more debilitating, and requires medical care
• Postpartum psychosis. Most severe form, requires aggressive psychiatric care
  

There are many possible symptoms of postpartum depression, including the following:

• Do you feel you are a 'bad' mother?
• Do you have horrible and distressing thoughts about yourself and your baby?
• Are you visualising terrible things happening to your baby caused by you?
• Do you have any 'chanting' thoughts or fast moving thoughts which don't go away especially when you try to sleep?
• Are you anxious or obsessive about your baby's health, welfare and safety?
• Do you clean the house all of the time or have obsessive thoughts about a fear of germs or illness harming your baby?
• Do you think about knives, or other dangerous objects or driving in your car and then have 'what would happen if…' thoughts?
• Do you think you are a 'bad person' rather than thinking you may have some kind of postnatal illness?
• Did you feel numb after having your baby—like he/she wasn't really yours?
• Do you play the birth in your mind time and time again because it was so awful for you?
• Are you able to enjoy life, have a sense of humour and laugh like you did before having your baby?
• Do you feel 'not right in yourself' since the birth of your baby?
• Do you avoid talking about the birth because you feel numb, or cry excessively about how you were treated?
• Are you hiding how you really feel about any of the issues mentioned in the questions above?
• Do you feel so angry you fantasise about hurting the staff who delivered your baby?
• Do you have flashbacks, nightmares or panic attacks?
• Do you have difficulty sleeping?
• Do you feel irritable and are roused to anger easily?
• Do you avoid talking about the birth and get 'panicky' when you are reminded of it in anyway.
• Inability to sleep or sleeping a lot 
• Change in appetite 
• Extreme concern and worry about the baby or a lack of interest or feelings for the baby 
• Feeling unable to love the baby or your family 
• Anger toward the baby, your partner, or other family members 
• Anxiety or panic attacks 
• Fear of harming your baby; these thoughts may be obsessive, and you may be afraid to be left alone in the house with your baby. 
• Irritability 
• Sadness or excessive crying 
• Difficulty concentrating or remembering 
• Feelings of doubt, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, or restlessness 
• Lethargy or extreme fatigue 
• Loss of interest in hobbies or other usual activities 
• Mood swings marked by exaggerated highs and lows 
• Feeling emotionally numb 
• Numbness or tingling in your arms or legs 
• Hyperventilating 
• Frequent calls to the pediatrician with an inability to be reassured 
• Recurrent thoughts of death, which may include thinking about or even planning suicide 
  Obsessive-compulsive thoughts and behaviors that are intrusive
   

Call Your Doctor About Postpartum Depression If:

• You have hallucinations and delusions about yourself or your baby; this is an emergency.
• You have thoughts about hurting yourself or your baby 
• You have symptoms or signs of depression that have lasted longer than two weeks after childbirth or that began within two months of giving birth