The challenge to manage a new baby is likely to trigger some level of stress and anxiety. Some worry is adaptive – anxiety is a natural response to protect one’s baby, and often that’s expressed with hyper-vigilance. Generally these feelings will pass on their own with time.
If however, you have ongoing disturbing thoughts and/or feelings of worry and tension that are hard to live with and/or affect your ability to manage from day to day or to take care of your baby, then you may be experiencing postnatal anxiety. Postpartum anxiety often goes undiagnosed. See the handout on anxiety.
You may have postnatal anxiety if you had a baby within the last 12 months and are experiencing some of these symptoms:
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- Feeling on edge
- Restlessness, inability to sit still
- Irritable
- Trouble sleeping (difficulty falling or staying asleep).
- Muscle tension
- Changes in your appetite and/or weight
- Excessive worry about things including your health and/or the health of your baby
- Obsessive cleaning and/or checking on your baby
- Some women experience panic attacks (having heart palpitations, sweating, hot flushes, trembling, dizziness, shortness of breath and chest discomfort)
- You may be having disturbing thoughts. The thoughts may be scary and unwanted,
- You may be having physical symptoms such as stomach cramps, headaches, shakiness, dizziness or nausea)
- Struggling to focus on a particular task at hand.
If you are experiencing a number of these symptoms then you are not alone. Anxiety is a very most common type of mental health challenge one in four people in their lifetime.