{"id":58376,"date":"2017-11-29T04:15:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-29T09:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/how-to-help-new-parents-at-risk-of-postnatal-depression\/"},"modified":"2017-11-29T04:15:31","modified_gmt":"2017-11-29T09:15:31","slug":"how-to-help-new-parents-at-risk-of-postnatal-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/how-to-help-new-parents-at-risk-of-postnatal-depression\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"

How To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression<\/b><\/p>\n

On the back of a BBC report<\/a> that stated that \u201cMore than a third of mothers have experienced mental health issues related to parenthood\u201d <\/em>and \u201c17% of fathers had experienced similar issues\u201d,\u00a0<\/em>I thought I\u2019d do a post trying to give advice on ways someone can help a person who they feel may be at risk of postnatal depression.<\/p>\n

How You Can Help<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before I start, I will say that it\u2019s actually quite tough to give out advice blindly like this. I don\u2019t know anything about the situation in which you find yourself. I also don\u2019t know who\u2019s asking for advice. It could be a wife seeking help for her husband, a parent seeking help for her daughter, or a simply a friend concerned about a couple<\/a> who might be struggling. Nonetheless, I will try my best to give some broad advice that may be applicable across the board.<\/p>\n

Talk About It<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a very good chance that if someone is suffering from postnatal depression they won\u2019t really want to talk about it. Depression in general is often a hidden illness, and as such, it often goes unnoticed. But that doesn\u2019t mean there\u2019s nothing we can do to help someone. For a start, you have to try and open the dialogue up and talk about how they\u2019re feeling. It\u2019s going to be incredibly tough to get someone to open up enough where they might start talking about depression, especially when it may involve holding negative feelings towards their newborn, but you have to try. Talking about it is the first step to getting better, and if you can encourage it, then you\u2019ve done a lot to help.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Judge the Emotions<\/strong><\/p>\n

When they do start to talk, try not to judge any of the emotions they talk about. No one wants to be depressed. And certainly no one wants to dislike their baby. Appreciate that the person doesn\u2019t have any control over how they are feeling, and that this depression isn\u2019t them. My wife found this incredibly hard; she was often frustrated that not only did I not love Isabelle, but I really disliked her. But she tried to understand that I couldn\u2019t help it. It\u2019s not easy, but if you make them feel bad for not having an emotion they have no control over, then you\u2019re going to introduce guilt into this mess, and that will only make things worse.<\/p>\n

Visiting<\/strong><\/p>\n

For those out there that aren\u2019t directly involved with the baby, I\u2019m talking about friends and family, then chances are you\u2019re going to be visiting. Many people think they help out new couples<\/a> merely by popping by to see them. But if done wrongly, this can make matters worse. What visiting can sometimes do is put pressure on the new parents to play hosts. Often visitors will come, steal away precious bonding moments by taking the sleeping baby away from the mother or father and pursue to use the baby as a accessory to take their pictures, only to then leave once the baby has aroused and requires feeding. I\u2019m not saying don\u2019t visit a new couple<\/a>, I\u2019m saying be mindful when you do. Don\u2019t jump straight into holding the baby. Make your own tea and coffee, maybe clean up a little whilst you do. Perhaps you could bring food with you, and then maybe you could take a picture of this new family all together. I know visiting had a negative affect on me at times, and part of it came from some of the things I just mentioned.<\/p>\n

The BBC also stated that:<\/p>\n

\u201c15% of mothers and a quarter of fathers say they didn\u2019t receive any emotional support for their parenting at all. This is despite a growing understanding that postpartum depression affects men<\/a> as well as women<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

So be there to help both parents<\/strong>. Don\u2019t ignore the father and assume he\u2019s coping too; actually ask him if he\u2019s bonding with the baby, and if he\u2019s coping with this drastic life change. Throughout the vast majority of human history we\u2019ve had help from a community of sorts in raising babies, modern day should be no different.<\/p>\n

If you want a few more suggestions on ways to help, then here\u2019s a post about five ways to help<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If You Feel That You May Have Postnatal Depression<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you happen to feel that you\u2019re suffering from postnatal depression, then perhaps you\u2019ve already made a step in the right direction. The mere fact that you\u2019re reading this implies that you\u2019re looking for advice on ways to help, and everything starts from being willing to help yourself. Someone can try everything they can think of to help someone, but if the person isn\u2019t ready to help themselves, you\u2019re going to have a hard time.<\/p>\n

I do have a video<\/a> about ways to help with postnatal depression that you can watch here:<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019ve also made a toolkit for those looking for more advice on ways to help, which can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thank you for reading this, and if you want to keep up-to-date with anything that I post or talk about, then feel free to follow me at the usual social links: Facebook<\/a><\/a>and Twitter<\/a> or the website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nwww.huffingtonpost.co.uk\/entry\/how-to-help-new-parents-at-risk-of-postnatal-depression_uk_5a1d8baae4b09413e786af52<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression On the back of a BBC report that stated that \u201cMore than a third of mothers have experienced mental health issues related to parenthood\u201d and \u201c17% of fathers had experienced similar issues\u201d,\u00a0I thought I\u2019d do a post trying to give advice on ways someone can … Continue reading How To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nHow To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression - GAYFRIENDSCHAT.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/how-to-help-new-parents-at-risk-of-postnatal-depression\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression - 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