What treatments are available for postpartum depression?

For most women, a combination of counseling and short-term antidepressant medication makes all the difference in treating postpartum depression (PPD). If you don’t want to try medications, ask your therapist about starting with counseling first to see if that is enough; often, it is. Also make sure to ask about the importance of getting adequate sleep, exercise, and good nutrition. Many studies show that these factors can help a lot! New moms can ask their OB/GYN, family physician, clergy, or friends for a referral to a psychotherapist who can help moms suffering from PPD.

The treatment options for postpartum depression are counseling, antidepressant medications and hormone therapy.

• Counseling is focused on helping the woman to find better ways to cope with her feelings and to set goals. Women with milder depression may respond to counseling alone  
• Antidepressant medications are an effective treatment for postpartum depression.
• Hormone therapy, specifically estrogen replacement may help counteract the rapid drop in estrogen that accompanies childbirth, and may ease the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression.

In addition a healthy lifestyle including a nutritious diet, daily exercise, good sleep patterns and accepting help and support from family and friends are important to support the treatment plan. With effective treatment, postpartum depression usually goes away within a few months. Continuing treatment after the woman begins to feel better is important. Stopping treatment too early may lead to a relapse

Sleep, sleep, and more sleep can sometimes help a new mother more than any other solution! Of course, individual and/or couple counseling may definitely be indicated, if there are communication and relationship difficulties. There may be also be a need for antidepressant and/or antianxiety medication. However, a good night's sleep with no interruptions can work wonders for a depressed new mom, even one who is breastfeeding.

Postpartum support groups and "Mommy and Me" groups are also valuable. If you can't find one in your town, start one. Don't forget, at least 1 out of 10 new moms suffer from postpartum depression. There are probably many other new moms just like you nearby.

If you've had a "winter baby", getting out of the house every day, even just for a walk, will help with both your needs for natural light and can help to prevent "cabin fever" (being cooped up too long in the house alone with the baby and no visitors).

The most important treatment is to treat yourself well. Be as kind and caring to yourself during this difficult time, as you would be to your best friend in the same situation. Take care of you and your basic needs...otherwise you won't be able to take care of anyone else. Bathe. Eat well. Sleep lots. Learn to ask for help! Self-care is not selfish!

Sepia is the most commonly used natural remedy and it is worth a try. Women who need it tend to be exhausted (common of course for mothers nursing infants!) and to feel at the end of their rope. They may get teary at the drop of a hat or irritable with their loved ones.

If this sounds like you, try Sepia in a 30c potency (strength) from any health food store, or online. (If you tend to be very sensitive to a wide variety of medications, fumes, fragrances and environmental chemicals, 30c may be too strong for you – use 6c, the mild potency, instead.)

Dissolve a couple of pellets in your mouth as a single dose, and notice how you feel. If there is no change, repeat twice a day until you feel more energy and your mood lightens. As soon as you feel the remedy working, stop taking it and let it keep working until it wears off, then repeat again.

If the remedy description doesn’t sound like you, or if you try it and it doesn’t work, that means you need a different remedy for postpartum depression. Please consult a professional homeopath (www.homeopathicdirectory.org).

For more about natural remedies, including ones that are safe for babies, kindly see my book, A Healer In Every Home.