Many persons see postpartum depression as an illness affecting just the mother. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The whole family encounters relationship issues that alter family dynamics considerably. Depressed mothers who do not seek treatment often place their infants in danger of experiencing severe or deadly delays in growth and development.
The medical name for this complex problem is non-organic failure to thrive. Non-organic means that there is no medical cause for the infant's delays. As a result of the mother's postpartum depression, she often fails to care for the baby's nutritional and emotional needs. Even though the infant may cry out in hunger at first, he or she often loses interest and stops relating to other people. This disorder may result in malnutrition, starvation, or even death.
Physicians use growth charts to follow a baby's physical growth in height, weight, and head size. If the infant is healthy at birth, his or her size fits within the normal values on these charts. If the infant starts to have severe growth delays, the problem will appear when comparing his or her development against normal growth charts. If the baby's progress is below the fifth percentile, doctors get worried.
Other signs often appear before the baby's growth problems reach this crisis stage. Most infants who grow at a normal rate are curious about their surroundings. In contrast, infants who do not thrive have little or no interest in their surroundings. These infants typically do not make noise or words; they have quit trying to respond to their caretakers.
How serious is this condition? If not treated properly, a child may starve to death. Even if the baby grows enough to remain alive, his or her heart, lungs, and brain do develop properly. Furthermore, even if they are treated, these children never "catch up" entirely. They often acquire social problems or eating conditions, even after they begin to have their needs met.
Babies who failure to thrive often become critically ill from starvation. They usually are in the hospital for several weeks at a time. In some cases, they become so weakened that feeding from a bottle is too tiring. They get feedings through a tube inserted in their stomachs, or even in a vein to get food!
The saddest aspect of this condition is that it is so preventable. If mothers with postpartum depression identify this problem at its onset, they can get treatment and never expose their fragile babies to these terrible dangers. Indeed, studies have shown that nine-tenths of the women who suffer from depression who get treatment will find healing!
A variety of approaches is used to treat postpartum depression. Many doctors use medications, such as antidepressants. These medicines are costly. They should also be avoided in nursing mothers. Moreover, antidepressants can cause thoughts of suicide; these medications should be prescribed with extreme caution.
Usually, doctors recommend psychotherapy instead of or along with medications. Counseling, however, can be expensive. In addition, it can be time-consuming, and several weeks may go by before this therapy begins to help. Regrettably, depending on the severity of the woman's depression, this much time may be too much to prevent harm to the infant. If the baby begins to experience delayed growth, extra therapies may be required.
Luckily, other non-drug treatment options can be used. Two innovative, beneficial methods that typically yield results much more quickly than psychotherapy, and are much less dangerous than medication, are Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP and hypnotherapy for depression. NLP and hypnosis usually begin to work after only one session. In addition, they are much less expensive than alternative methods.
Mothers who think they might have postpartum depression need to get treatment at once so that their infants are not at risk for critical growth problems. The severity of the consequences for the infant mandates that any approach work quickly, and have a high rate of effectiveness. NLP and hypnosis for depression are inexpensive, work quickly, and are highly effective. Therefore, both of these treatments are perfect for treating postpartum depression.
Summary: Postpartum depression is depression that begins after the birth of a child. New moms cannot provide their infants the caring they must have to survive and grow. This results in failure to thrive, a severe, potentially deadly disorder, which hurts the baby. Women who think they might have postpartum depression need to seek treatment immediately. Hypnosis and NLP for depression are inexpensive and have demonstrated amazing effectiveness.
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