How can you tell if it's (mild) PND

[OuchBollocks]

Or if you're just tired and fed up because having 2 small kids is hard work and you're lazy and not used to hard work especially when you're skint on SMP and most of your friends and family are many miles away?

It can be hard to tell as sleep deprivation affects everything and parenting babies and toddlers can be sheer drudgery. What would you say your symptoms are?

Because I'm so exhausted I could weep, but then DS is teething and not sleeping well. And I am irritable with DD, but then she is being very challenging at the moment. And doing housework seems impossible, but then it gets done, More or less.

Cross posted there. I'm tired. Weary. I want to see people but not make the effort involved. I just want to lie down for about a month. I'm tetchy. I'm indecisive - picking DDs clothes seems like a gargantuan task. There's more I think. But I could just be knackered and fed up.

It's difficult to tell over a forum like this but personally I have been there with the exhaustion, three young kids, husband working long hours, skint etc.
I had days when I sat at the kitchen table feeling really sorry for myself, crying a lot! But after a few days I would force myself out with the kids, phone my mum and vent for an hour and I would pull myself out of it.
I am no expert but from what I have heard about PND, there is no 'pulling yourself out of it' as such, more of a constant feeling of a dark cloud over you all the time. Again I am no expert just what I have been told.
To give you some light at the end of the tunnel, it does get much much easier as they get older, you get your sleep back and you can think clearly, then off they go to school and nursery and you start to feel like you again

Well I can't diagnose you and it does sound largely normal but I guess it depends how much it's affecting you and how different you are from your normal personality? My anger was through the roof and it frightened me. I also kept thinking that something awful would happen. Can you get a break? You could always have a chat with your GP? Do You think you'd benefit from antidepressants?

I have twins who will be 3 next month and found them very hard early on. I dismissed any feelings I had because all I kept hearing was the famous line "well you've got 2, what do you expect?"!

But, my depression, lack of emotional control and anger have just gradually got worse and worse until I had a small breakdown a few weeks ago. I went straight to see my gp and she diagnosed depression (and a bit of anxiety) immediately. She said that, although in my case there were signs well before I'd had children - we think my previous marriage had a bit part to play in it - there was a strong liklihood that I had suffered a level of PND too and it had all just snowballed after I returned to work. I have been prescribed a low dose of antidepressants, a short spell of diazapem for sleep and was signed off for a week and it has done me the world of good. I was also given counselling sessions and various helpline numbers and I feel like a completely different person. Please go and see you gp just to talk it through

i was the same as you - these are just all the normal things that other parents go through and why can't I cope if they can?
But you can't compare your coping ability to others. I felt failure and defeat after I made the gp appointment but that soon faded after I spoke to her.

I didn't feel any joy in general- just flat all the time. I could see my DD1 was cute and I loved her. But it all felt like so much hard work.

Now I know that when I start to feel overwhelmed, I need DH to take DC out so I can rest, sort out my stuff, read a book, etc.

I know a PP said it gets easier as they get older. That's so true. DD1 is now 8 and youngest is 3. But some of it isn't just their ages- I used to feel like doing anything was like wading through treacle and lost my temper easily and shouted at them far more than I liked.

They still drive me crackers at times. It I know that if I'm starting to feel hassled and my anxiety levels are rising, I need to take time for myself so my anxiety can dissipate.

I had PND with my first 2. Not no3, but diagnosed with mild depression when No3 was about 18 months. So this has probably always been part of me but that pre DC I managed it (somehow).

I'm no medic, but I would say that if there are more bad days than good, it might be an idea to see your GP. And "bad day" can just mean "blah"- I never had thoughts of self harm or harming my DC. It was all just so much hard work.