Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

What is postpartum depression?

Postpartum depression is depression that happens after you have a baby. About 1 in 9 postpartum people experience symptoms of postpartum depression. With this kind of depression, you may feel sad, hopeless, anxious, and/or disconnected from your baby for weeks or months. Postpartum depression lasts longer and is more intense than the “baby blues.”

How is postpartum depression different from the “baby blues?”

The “baby blues” means feeling worried, sad, or tired after giving birth. They generally start 2-3 days after giving birth. They’re very common and usually last a few days.

Postpartum depression lasts for weeks or months and tends to be more intense. It generally starts about 1-3 weeks after giving birth. It might prevent you from being able to care for yourself, your baby, and the rest of your family. Lots of people deal with postpartum depression — it’s a very common experience. Like all kinds of depression, postpartum depression is treatable.

What are the signs of postpartum depression?

Someone with postpartum depression may experience:

  • Sadness, anxiety, or anger that doesn’t go away
  • Feeling worthless, helpless, guilty, hopeless, or irritable
  • Feeling distant from your baby
  • Crying more than usual
  • Loss of energy
  • Withdrawing from friends and family
  • Trouble concentrating or making decisions
  • Appetite changes (eating more or less than usual)
  • Trouble sleeping or sleeping too much
  • Constant doubts about your ability to raise your baby
  • Thoughts about hurting yourself or your baby

How is postpartum depression treated?

The good news is that postpartum depression is treatable. Your doctor or nurse can help you manage your postpartum depression. Treatment may include counseling and/or medicines. If you’re breastfeeding, make sure to let your nurse or doctor know, since some medicines aren’t safe to use while breastfeeding. Let your nurse or doctor know if you might be pregnant or might get pregnant soon, since some medicines aren't safe to take while pregnant.

If you think you may be experiencing postpartum depression, talk with your nurse or doctor, and ask for support from family and friends. Planned Parenthood health centers don’t provide treatment for postpartum depression, but they may be able to help you find treatment and other support in your area. You can also find local support at SAMHSA.

Learn more about postpartum care.

Was this information helpful?
You’re the best! Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks for your feedback.
Español

This website uses cookies

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.