Urgent advice please

[ForTealGuide]

Hi everyone so I am 4 weeks postpartum after giving birth to my beautiful baby girl. First two weeks were so rough - I felt so down and hopeless and sad. Now things have sort of evened out but I still feel sad. I only feel good when I know I can head out and have some time alone with me and my partner, as I feel like I am mourning my old life even though I love my baby. I feel like a complete different person and sort of feel lost now. Every time I go on walks I feel like everything is a blur and I have quite bad brain fog. I keep thinking about the way I feel and I keep having anxiety about my mental health and fear it won’t get better. I am coping - still showering and looking after myself/baby and leaving the house and have massive support.l but something just feels off and I’m not sure if this is normal/if there’s hope of me feeling better. Last night I felt this sense of impending doom and hopelessness and I really got scared I won’t get better and couldn’t sleep because of this, does anyone have any tips or know what this could be

Call your health visitor. Probably hormones but could be a bit of post partum blues

Do you know how this differs from PPD? I heard PPD is constant and you lack motivation to even look after yourself but I’m not sure x

Speak to the professionals. You’ve recognised that something is not right. They might suggest things or they might keep an eye on it…
congratulations on your baby x

This is not the place for diagnoses. Speak to your healthcare worker.

Hope you feel better soon and congratulations on the baby

I agree with PPs, it's great that you've identified this and really important that you can seek out some help quickly. Rest assured you won't be the only person who has ever felt like this, and it doesn't make you a bad mother at all, pregnancy and birthing children is such a wonderful, significant, traumatic and amazing thing all in one so there's no surprise that it's going to mess with you physically and emotionally. I agree that self diagnosis is going to do you no favours, speak to your midwife/health visitor and get some support asap. Good luck and congratulations on your baby

I was like this after my second. I took antidepressants for a few months and was fine.

I would speak to your GP, I felt like this after my first baby and people around me shrugged it off because I was able to look after myself and my baby but I took no joy in it. I was prescribed antidepressants and it turned my life around, I was able to enjoy being a mum and feel happy about my life again. It was clearly a hormonal imbalance or something and I wish I'd sought help sooner.

Hi
probably not going to be a popular response but I’m going to say it anyway! I think sometimes it’s all to easy to say ‘something is wrong’ or try to label what is going on. Having a baby is a compete life overhaul one which no one is prepared for. I felt completely the same as you for about 7 months. I sometimes even had guilty feelings of have I made a mistake. For me my work and my training (semi pro athlete) were massive parts of my identity and I felt that these had been stripped from me. In my experience it gets better and you learn to embrace your new life as well as being able to start getting back into what makes ‘you’. 4 weeks is ROUGH I remember it well. By all means speak to professionals but I think the way you’re feeling is really normal xxx