What is Postpartum Depression (PPD)?

“After giving birth, many women experience a week or two of “baby blues,” marked by mood swings, feelings of ambivalence toward motherhood, mild depression, and bouts of unexplainable crying. These blues may be a result of hormonal changes; of the way labor, delivery, and motherhood are treated in today’s society; or of the isolation new mothers often feel. Certainly lack of sleep plays a role, too. In some women—as many as 11 to 15 percent of new mothers—the baby blues turns into clinical postpartum depression, or PPD” – Source: Coping with Postpartum Depression, Ronnie Lichtman, American Baby, 2006.

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