Even though becoming a mum is widely celebrated as a joyous occasion, the grips of perinatal depression affect a large percentage of new mums each year. What’s more, the mental condition remains extremely misunderstood as common notions tend to shun new mum’s experiencing what is better known as the baby blues.
Despite the controversy surrounding the condition, experiencing the baby blues does not signify parent suitability, nor does the state render a new mum incapable of caring for her newborn. However, it is exceptionally vital for mum’s experiencing perinatal depression to seek professional guidance to ensure the condition does not leave its impacts on both the mother and the child.
Aspiring midwives and even new mom’s can indulge in this CPD module to uncover essential details regarding perinatal mental health issues. When it comes to comforting your patient as a midwife, the following informative tips will ensure you are approaching the task in a positive and healing manner.
Reassurance and validation
Mums experiencing the baby blues are feeling overwhelmed for several reasons. While some of these reasons may be biological and sensical, others may be more individually specific to the mom. Therefore, you should offer your patient validation and reassurance that will assist them in combating anxious thoughts and degrading perspectives they may be having.
Encourage a strong support system
Every new mum nee a robust support system, although, mums experiencing the baby blues and more severe cases of postpartum and perinatal depression require support even more. As a midwife, you should encourage your patient to rely on their support system as a natural habit rather than allow themselves to feel as though they need to manage it all. A few hours of rest every day is crucial for brain functions, and moms that are overwhelmed without any help are more inclined to fall into depressive states simply because they are sleep-deprived and require quality rest.
Be the voice of reason
You have been recommending methods of staying healthy and boosting mental health for the duration of your patient’s pregnancy. However, your job as a midwife does not end once the child has been born as you will need to check up on your patient for quite some time. In dealing with a mom who has perinatal mental health concerns, you will need to act as the voice of reason; assessing the situation to the best of your knowledge and acting on instincts when required. You will need to be confident with regards to whether or not you will need to refer your patient for an assessment and further professional assistance. In many cases, new moms become well-acquainted with their midwives as a reliable professional, which is why you will need to know the exact severity of the situation.
In order to verify the severity of the situation, it is crucial to make yourself available to your patient throughout the day and night. In addition to this, going the extra mile for mom’s experiencing the blues means reaching out can make a massive difference to the emotions of the new mom.
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Image credit: Freepik
Dennis Relojo-Howell is the managing director of Psychreg. He interviews people within psychology, mental health, and well-being on his YouTube channel, The DRH Show.
