Riding the Emotional Rollercoaster of Pregnancy and New Parenthood

When parents take vigilant care of their own mental health, seeking support and treatment when necessary, they are also caring for their baby's health.

The Emotions of Pregnancy

The hormonal tides of pregnancy, labor and delivery, and lactation underlie many of these emotional swings in mothers. Many feel a deep sense of well-being throughout their pregnancy, in part because of their pleasure in becoming mothers, but also because certain hormones of pregnancy are thought to help mothers relax. It is not at all unusual, however, for pregnancy to be a time of anxiety, fatigue and moodiness. Indeed, about 10 percent of women experience prenatal depression to a degree that requires medical treatment.

Effective treatment can not only help a mom feel better in the short term, studies show, but can reduce her risk of experiencing depression after her baby is born. Recent research also offers strong evidence that maternal depression, both during pregnancy and afterward, can put a baby at risk for developmental disorders.

Treatment can be as simple as exercise and meditation, or it may require psychotherapy with a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, or even medication, if the benefits have been determined to outweigh any possible risk to the developing fetus. If a woman does become depressed during pregnancy, it is important that she receive treatment before facing the additional stresses of birth and mothering a newborn, and before the depression influences her baby's cognitive and emotional development.

Birth and the Early Weeks

In the first few days after a healthy birth, a mother's swings from elation to weepiness can be dramatic. Mild sadness that passes quickly (although it may return from time to time) is experienced by 30 percent to 85 percent of new mothers. Ebbing pregnancy hormones - estrogen and progesterone levels drop rapidly in the first 24 hours after birth - drive these mood swings. Postpartum sadness typically peaks on the fourth or fifth day after delivery and may last for a few hours or a few days. Generally, it eases within two weeks of delivery.