The Effect of Postpartum Blues on Women Health and her Baby Care

Abstract

Maternity blues also called baby blues or postpartum blues is a common mild affective syndrome that could be experienced by women after delivery which involves fatigue, despondency, tearfulness and difficulty thinking clearly. The symptoms of the “baby blues” normally occur for a few minutes up to a few hours each day. The characteristic symptoms comprise emotional liability, weeping, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, irritability, mood or elation and cognitive difficulty including poor attention, distractibility and poor recent memory. Emotional liability is the most prominent symptom of the maternity blues with mood swings that might take place several times a day (Quintero, 2018). First time mothers don't have experience in caring for babies, but full responsibility for anew born is more difficult, it is easy to get frustrated with a baby who cries often or who aren't breastfed well, it is also very difficult to adjust to the new baby, sleeping and feeding schedule. Having first baby, put stress on the relationship between the new mother and her partner; it is important to reassure a first time mother to tell her that those feelings are normal and to educate her about what to expect and ways to take care of herself and her baby (Carlough, 2020).