Nursery World - Positive Relationships: Mental Health

Perinatal mental health is inextricably linked with the well-being
of the child, so an understanding of potential problems - and how to
help - is vital.

According to the NSPCC report All Babies Count: spotlight on perinatal mental health, more than one in 10 women experience mental health issues of some kind during pregnancy and the first year after childbirth. These include anxiety, depression and other postnatal psychotic disorders that are known collectively as 'perinatal mental health illnesses'.

Postnatal depression is the most commonly known, although not necessarily well understood. Strictly speaking, depression can occur at any time during pregnancy, which is why the term perinatal is often used.

Depression after childbirth is not the same as 'the baby blues', which more than half of new mothers are believed to experience in the days after birth and which doesn't require treatment. These feelings of tearfulness or irritability usually pass within a couple of weeks, leaving mothers able to enjoy, and relate to, their babies.

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