Kiss baby blues away

For nine months, Lennie waited for the moment when she could finally hold her baby — her first. She was sure her newborn would bring nothing but joy and happiness. Soon after giving birth, however, Lennie started feeling lost in a sea of loneliness for no reason. She knew she should feel otherwise but the sadness that has suddenly shrouded her was incomprehensibly debilitating.

At a time when she was to feel nothing but happiness about the arrival of her bundle of joy, depression practically handicapped Lennie’s ability to be happy. Hers was a classic case of baby blues, a condition that affects one in two new moms.

Experts say about half of all mothers suffer from a period of mild depression that lasts from a few hours to a few days. Crying without knowing why, a mother suffering from baby blues find it impossible to be upbeat, feeling anxious and worried. This sometimes translate to body pains of no medical cause, feeling sickly without showing symptoms.

Thinking and feeling sick, more often than not, a mother with baby blues find it hard to doze off and find rest. Unbeknownst to her, some biological changes happen inside a new mother’s body. Her hormonal levels suddenly drop while the hormone required to produce milk rises up. The confluence of the fluctuating hormones contributes to the blues.

According to experts, some mothers are not prepared for this. With hormonal levels at the lowest point, and having exerted too much energy that leaves mother exhausted, she needs to take a complete rest in order to combat baby blues from setting in deep.

They add that a mother who has just given birth needs all the support she can get from her husband and other family members to tide her over this period and be able to kiss their baby blues away.