I had moderate/ severe postnatal depression with my first child. However with my second baby I have only had mild symptoms. With my first I ended up with anti depressants and being refered to a CPN, but with my second I have just had 3 visits from a health visitor and the odd chat with my GP. People have watched out for symptoms and I think it has helped.
I thought it would be good to have a thread on things that have worked to avoid postnatal depression. (Or at least minimise its affects.)
I chose to have my baby in April so that I could enjoy summer with a newborn. I think it helped having longer days.
In the early days my husband made a sandwich for me to each at lunch time. I can be very bad about skipping meals.
I got support quite early on to knock any mild postnatal depession symptoms on the head. I had a few bad days, but it has not be the two years of total utter hell I had the first time.
I hope that this thread shows that its not inevitable that you get postnatal depression a second time.
Also many women do make a good recovery from this hideous illness.