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PND or just lack of support

4 replies

Sazzlefrazzle86 · 08/08/2024 10:25

Hi everyone, I don’t post often but just need some advice as things are getting desperate. I had my first baby almost a year ago. Pregnancy was great but I had a really awful and traumatic birth- went in with a hypnobirthing plan and ended up having an emcs at 10cms after over an hour of pushing (they didn’t realise my baby was back to back, and poorly positioned with head stuck in a position that i couldn’t birth). They tried to manually rotate baby and use forceps but it failed and ended up with a section where I then haemorrhaged and became unwell. Ended up being treated on the sepsis pathway (IV antibiotics etc) lost almost 2L of blood in the end. Didn’t get to hold my baby after birth for ages as I was too unwell, didn’t get my golden hour. Didn’t see her much until the next day. As a result of traumatic birth I then failed with my breastfeeding journey, as I simply never produced enough milk. In the first five days my 8lb 14oz baby lost so much weight we were put on a feeding plan and almost re hospitalised. Midwives said I needed to feed around the clock and pump- but I didn’t produce enough milk to feed my baby, in the end it was medical advise to top up with formula- we ended up moving over to formula completely as my supply was so alarmingly low. I have been completely devastated about my experience and feel like it’s destroyed me in recent months. My own mother made comments about how she never had a problem feeding me or my brother herself and she found both birth and breastfeeding really very straightforward and easy. She’s made comments that mother’s choosing to formula feed are not doing the right thing and it’s a disappointment and a shame I’ve had to do it. She also made several comments about it being ridiculous how many women have c-sections these days and in her day it was a lot less etc etc. I feel like a failure. Throughout this first year of motherhood I have felt undermined by my own mother and can’t understand why this is happening. When I was younger we didn’t get along too well but then in recent years I thought we had sorted our differences out. For some reason although she is delighted to be a grandmother she appears to resent that I have my own baby now and can be very judgemental and interferes a lot. For example I wanted to use a dummy to soothe my baby and she was adamant I wasn’t going to do it, she couldn’t convince me so she appealed to my partner and got him to side with her. She undermines me in other ways, for example if she looks after my baby ever she will allow her to nap really late in the day so I’m up all night. When I was in the very early stages post-partum and struggling she told me I was selfish and self-centred and that I need to get a grip for the sake of my baby, and when I was suffering from what I now think is pnd she said I was a bad mother and didn’t deserve my baby (because I was crying a lot and not keeping up with housework etc) she also said if I don’t start to lose the baby weight soon my partner will lose interest. I live really close to my parents and they expect to see their grandchild on a daily basis and guilt trip me if this is not the case. I don’t know how to move forward and what to do for the best, any advice appreciated.

OP posts:
CalonHapus · 08/08/2024 10:51

I'm so sorry you've had to cope with such awful, abusive behaviour from your mother, especially at such a vulnerable and difficult time. You deserve love, support and compassion - definitely not criticism, insults and undermining behaviour.

Appreciate it can be complex with families but my advice would be to go very low (or no) contact if you feel able to do so. Do you have support from your partner and friends?

Neverhurt · 08/08/2024 11:04

This sounds so awful, I’m sorry you’re going through this.

I put a lot of distance between me and my mum when I first had my baby and it helped. You have to draw a line and protect yourself and your family from your mum who sounds very toxic. I found this very hard and listened to podcasts and read articles about how to set boundaries.

Your mum won’t like it because she used to being able to trample all over you which is why she kicks off if you try to stop her from seeing your baby. But your relationship will never improve unless your able to do this.

Some ideas:

Choose set days for your mum to see the baby. Be clear that you need to be able to plan your week so Wednesday and Fridays will be best from now on.

Drop the baby round to your mums house with formula and nappies and leave and go and do something for yourself. Even if that’s just a bath or watching your favourite tv show. Let her help you have alone time.

Be firm and clear. “You love baby so much that you want to see her every day but I need to chose what works best for our family” and repeat this.

You should also try practicing saying things like “please keep your opinions about X to yourself. If I need your advice I will ask for it”.

i want to address your question about PND. It’s hard to know as you haven’t talked much about how you are feeling. It’s sounds like your mum creates very toxic situation for you so if she is the cause of the problems then being more boundaried with her will help.

i had PND but I didn’t know becaus me everyone said “oh it’s just really hard”. It is really hard, but I also didn’t really love my baby and that was the key difference between my and their experience.

Sazzlefrazzle86 · 08/08/2024 19:36

Thanks so much for your response. My partner is now being more supportive, in the beginning he didn’t know how best to support me after the birth etc. It’s our first baby so it’s been a steep learning curve for him. With my mother- to begin with he couldn’t believe the things I was saying because she’s nice as pie with him and makes a big effort to be close to him and always takes his side if me and him are in an argument etc. She made a huge effort to appear completely innocent to him but we have recently all been on a family holiday together and she wasn’t able to keep it up and let the mask slip a few times, so he now believes me and is trying to help me put some boundaries in place. Throughout my life I’ve been told by her that I’m the problem and I’m the one causing trouble or being a drama queen, it’s been quite a painful process accepting it’s her and I’ll never be able to please her. I have a few friends who can see what’s going on, most of my friends think my mum is lovely because she does a good job of portraying that to most people.

OP posts:
Sazzlefrazzle86 · 08/08/2024 19:49

Thanks so much for getting back to me. I really appreciate the support and advice. I’m going to go to my GP to discuss whether this may be PND, I was definitely very traumatised and upset by my birth, I still cry when I talk about it and get very upset when I hear other people sharing birth stories. I can’t watch anything remotely medical on tv and I used to go into blind panic or rage every Wednesday, which was the day she was born. I can’t listen to the music I had on during Labour, and broke down when I had to return to the same hospital for an appt a few months later. I used to want 2 or 3 children but now I’m sticking with just the one as I just can’t face going through it again. The grief I feel over not breastfeeding is overwhelming and I feel like I’ve let everyone down. I’m incredibly overprotective of my baby and definitely suffer from anxiety- I used to check her at night constantly to make sure she was okay.

My mum was initially shocked about my experience but soon dismissive. She says I play the victim a lot and behave like a teenager and that everyone is sick of listening to me repeating myself. She’s called me a bad mum and said she’s glad I’m not having any more children as it would be incredibly reckless and irresponsible, that I could die next time and that would leave my dd1 with no mother so i better not even think about doing it again. She tries to use my partner as a way of interfering and undermining my parenting. Definitely need to work on putting boundaries in place, your suggestions are all really helpful. Thank you x

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