GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Experts are reminding new moms to take care because perinatal mood disorder can happen during pregnancy and after childbirth.
“It impacts any woman who is pregnant and into the year after their baby is born or delivery,” Barbara Hawkins-Palmer, director of Healthy Kent at the Kent County Health Department, said.
Hawkins-Palmer said about one in five women can experience it, and research suggests that one in three Black or Indigenous women can experience it. One in 10 men can also experience perinatal mood disorder.
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“It is something that is often missed. They think it is baby blues. You know, ‘I’m kind of tired, of course, or I’m feeling anxious about the baby sleeping.’ And what happens is these can be exaggerated almost to a point of not going out because you’re afraid to take the baby anywhere or you’re not letting anyone hold the baby because you have obsessions about something happening,” Hawkins-Palmer said…