Supporting Parents with their Mental Health

Many people think that mental health problems only happen after birth — postnatally — but that’s a myth. In fact, problems in pregnancy are even more common than problems after birth.

Parents in foster care often have several risk factors for mental health problems. Around 40% of teenage mothers are affected by postnatal depression. Added to this, parents who are having their parenting assessed often worry about talking about their feelings in case they are seen as less able to look after their baby. Feeling anxious in pregnancy and after birth is very common — we need to help parents to know this and break down the stigma around perinatal mental health. It’s good to talk!

The Baby Blues

Nearly all new mothers experience a few days of low mood, anxiety and tearfulness with symptoms being strongest around the fifth day after birth. This is a normal reaction to the hormonal and other changes after having a baby. However, if the symptoms are still there at 10–14 days after birth, it’s important for the woman to see her GP, midwife or health visitor for an assessment.

Mild to Moderate Depression and Anxiety

The symptoms of depression during or after pregnancy are tearfulness, irritability, feelings of loneliness, loss of confidence, and a lack of satisfaction with motherhood. 10–15% of the general population get some form of postnatal depression, and the risk factors which make depression more likely are factors which often affect parents in foster care.

What to look out for or ask about:

• Loss of interest in things that she used to be interested in
• Feeling sad or tearful a lot of the time
• Being unusually irritable
• Finding it hard to sleep even when the baby is asleep, or sleeping more than normal
• Lack of motivation to do normal things like getting washed and dressed
• Finding it difficult to connect with the baby, either before or after birth

What you can do to help:

• Encourage her to talk
• Help her to take time out for herself, away from the baby
• Encourage her to talk to the GP, midwife or Health Visitor
• Support her to go to her appointments with her psychiatrist, psychotherapist or counsellor

Severe Depression, Anxiety and Psychosis

The symptoms of a serious perinatal mental illness include those listed above, but are more severe, where a woman may feel completely hopeless and incompetent, extremely tired but often not able to sleep, and can also include morbid thoughts about herself or the baby, often with thoughts of suicide or harming her baby.

Two women in every thousand develop psychosis, where they believe things that aren’t true, see and hear things that aren’t there, and behave in uncharacteristic and uninhibited ways. It’s really important to tell a health professional urgently if you think the mother you are caring for has any of these symptoms. You may even need to make the baby safe and call an ambulance.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are a group of serious mental illnesses, and pregnancy can be a very difficult time for some women as their body changes. You can find out more about eating disorders in pregnancy at the Eating disorders and pregnancy website and about eating disorders generally at BEAT.

Fathers and Depression

If you are caring for a father, a couple, or the father has regular contact, it is also important to remember that new dads can also get depressed, and feel overwhelmed, frustrated and isolated if their partner is depressed. See the Supporting Couples and Fathers section for more information.