Best 5 Ways to Help Your Friend Deal with Postpartum Depression
Postpartum depression isn’t something Hollywood made up to increase ratings. It’s a real condition experienced by many mothers after giving birth. Postpartum depression is commonly referred to as “the baby blues”. Some of its symptoms include anxiety, crying, mood swings, and difficulty falling asleep.
Most women experience postpartum depression for a short length of time as in two to three days after delivery, with the lengthier cases lasting as long as two weeks or more.
Refer this guide to find 5 best ways to help a friend going through lowness, downheartedness, melancholy or peepers.
1. Be supportive without defaulting to giving advice
Even if you have children of your own, it may be difficult to understand how your friend is feeling. Make it a point to show your support without overwhelming her with parenthood tips and tricks.
She has plenty of time to learn the ropes and may respond differently to the advice once she feels better moving out of her peepers.
2. Help prepare meals for the new mother
Among one of the easiest tasks for you to do is to make food for your friend and her family. You can do it in her home or at your own.
If you bulk prepare meals, she’ll have nothing more to do than heat them up and serve them. It’s a welcome sight to see food in the fridge after a long day of caring for a newborn.
3. Help your friend do her housework
There will be a lot of tasks that go by the wayside when a new baby is born. Make sure that you take over some of the housework for your friend. You can easily run the vacuum, wash dishes, and dust while she tends to her little one.
Having a clean environment to be in helps improve your friend’s morale. If the laundry piles up and the floors haven’t been swept in days, she could very well feel worse than she already does.
4. Run simple errands so she doesn’t need to get herself and the baby ready
Drop off bills for her. Collect her mail at the post office. Do her grocery shopping for the week for her. There are so many things you can do to help her out. Keeping your friend from having to leave the house with baby in tow is imperative.
If she isn’t thinking clearly or feels too exhausted to move, having her drive from one location to the next is risky.
5. Watch the baby so she can rest
Take over childcare for her so she can get a good nap in. After all, she can’t feel better if she's overextended herself. You can even get her baby to nap around the same time that mom is catching up on zs by putting their Owlet smart socks on and gently rocking them to sleep in a rocking chair.
Postpartum depression can be very serious. If you fear that your friend’s health may be compromised by how she is currently feeling, urge her to seek help from a trusted mental health professional.
They’ll be able to effectively step in and assist the new mother in ways you cannot. Remember that being supportive does not mean that you have all the resources a licensed therapist or psychologist has at their fingertips.
New moms using a Bellefit postpartum corset have found it very effective to boost their self-confidence and help with their postpartum depression. After all, wearing a Bellefit postpartum girdle makes women feel put together and more confident about bouncing back to their pre-pregnancy shape.
Many new moms feel sad and depressed that their bodies aren’t what they used to be before pregnancy. Most women eventually realize that this physical change is normal and that it doesn't last for too long. It is important for women to be intentional about loving their bodies through this transitional period in their lives.
Don't you think that coming out of postpartum depression is more about going to its root causes, and then finding the solutions?