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Written By: Editorial Team | Updated : April 5, 2014 3:38 PM IST
Does living with grandparents ease or worsen a mother's baby blues? The answer may depend on the mother's marital status, a study suggests. Married and single mothers suffer higher rates of depression when they live with parents in their baby's first year of life. 'There is a strong expectation that married couples would be economically self-sufficient. Those are strong cultural values. So there could be a stronger sense of failure among married couples if they have to live with their parents,' said lead author Joy Piontak a research analyst with Duke University centre for child and family policy.
The pattern held true for rich, poor and middle-class women, said the study that looked at a sample of nearly 3,000 married, single and cohabiting mothers. We often talk about families in terms of mothers, fathers and children. 'Or we talk about the marital status of the mothers. Families are often a lot more complex than we imagine them to be, though. And that complexity can affect mothers' well-being,' Piontak added. For instance, married couples commonly expect to maintain a separate household. (Read: A new mum's guide to breastfeeding)
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Cohabiting couples do not always face the same expectations as other researchers have noted. Still, Piontak cautioned that she can not say for certain what causal relationship is at play. Living with grandparents may worsen depression for single and married mothers. Or, depressed single and married moms may be less likely to move out from a multi-generational household, the study said. (Read: 10 reasons why breast is better than bottle)
What is post partum depression?
Mala Saluja felt blessed when she delivered a baby boy. She had waited for this moment for nine months, decorated the baby room with delight, spent many hours window shopping at the baby stores, talking to her baby bump yet when her little one finally arrived; she felt that something had gone amiss somewhere. She no longer felt connected to her baby and even felt disillusioned by what was happening around her. She had no clue what was happening to her, why she felt so low or even how to seek help. And sadly Mala isn't alone; thousands of women share her condition which the medicos call postpartum depression.
Every woman suffers from some degree of baby blues post delivery. A prolonged phase of the aforementioned symptoms can signal the onset of postpartum depression. This isn't healthy either for the mother or the baby.
Could 'baby blues' be the first warning sign of postpartum depression?
'Almost all women who undergo the stress and strains of pregnancy and labour face the wrath of baby blues to some extent or the other after delivery,' says Dr Syeda Ruksheda family psychiatrist and psychoterapist, Mumbai. Suffering from baby blues is very different from suffering from postpartum blues or depression. 'Pregnancy, labour and childbirth is like an emotional rollercoaster ride for a woman, add to it the physical demands of those whole nine months, suffering from baby blues isn't an unnatural thing for new mothers,' says Dr Ruksheda. It is estimated that one in eight new mums suffer from baby blues globally. (Read: Postpartum depression symptoms, causes and treatment)
With inputs from IANS
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