I’m worried about my partner’s ‘baby blues’, she clearly needs help
Our lovely baby girl was born four months ago, and everything was wonderful for the first two weeks. Since then, however, my partner has been weepy nearly all the time. She says she’s permanently exhausted, even though the birth was straightforward and the doctors and midwives have all said she has recovered well. My sister says it sounds like she’s got the baby blues and that it will gradually fade. But she’s not improving and bursts into tears at the slightest thing.
She spends a lot of time in bed, sometimes only getting up to visit the loo and feed the baby.
She also keeps saying ‘sorry’ all the time, though what she needs be sorry about I don’t know – our daughter is healthy and beautiful.
I am doing all I can to help around the house and with the baby.
“She says she’s permanently exhausted, even though the birth was straightforward and the doctors and midwives have all said she has recovered well
I also try to cheer her up, but nothing is working. I keep telling her that she should see her doctor, but she just shrugs this off, saying she is fine. She’s clearly not fine.
It could be PND
Your partner many have recovered well physically, but something is very wrong with her emotionally. It is possible that she has postnatal depression (PND).
This is a recognised medical condition, and some 10% of women get it so severely that that they need support such as counselling and/or medication. As a first step, I suggest you contact the Association for Post Natal Illness (apni.org).
When she feels ready to talk to someone, the charity has a freephone helpline or she can use email or the online chat service. In the meantime, continue to do what you have been doing and reassure her often that she will recover.
Write to Fiona Caine c/o Hollie Busby, The News, Technopole, Kingston Crescent, North End, Portsmouth, PO2 8FA or hollie.busby@nationalworld.com Fiona regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence, nor pass letters on to other readers.