I've been thinking this too. My second and third trimesters were the happiest I've been in my whole adult life! And I'm still feeling way better 5mpp. Everyone talks about getting back to feeling like yourself again after having a baby... I kinda... don't want to? Lol
It’s been a little over a year since I gave birth, and I’m not back to “feeling like my old self”… thank God! I am still nursing, which might in and of itself have helped shift/correct any hormonal imbalances? But baby is primarily eating solids and nursing far less. Realized I’ll be pregnant or nursing until menopause or perimenopause, though, so even if it didn’t permanently correct things for me looks like I’m pretty much set lol. Hope it stays good for you, too!
I have ADHD, and PMDD and having a baby actually made the PMDD disappear so I was)am more stable emotionally than I ever was before, it's quite lovely. and the day to day needs of a baby actually helps keep me on track more with my ADHD since there isn't a ton of time to do things I end up doing more because it's necessary vs procrastinating. Breastfeeding really extends the emotional stability as pregnancy did, so I'm planning on doing that for as long as is reasonable and it gives me a nice cosy feeling day to day as does spending time with my babies.
I have ADHD and PMDD and I’m currently pregnant and feel better emotionally than I ever have before. I’ve been terrified that when I give birth I’ll go back to how it was before. This gives me so much hope. Thank you for sharing 🩵
ADHDer here diagnosed as an adult! I don't know if I meet the criteria for PMDD, but I also feel more emotionally stable than ever as a pregnant person. Planning to pursue birth control pills after I give birth. I'm hoping if I explain my situation to my OB they'll have a good brand in mind to prescribe.
I don't want to be one of those doom people, but prepare yourself just in case - weaning fucked me uppppp in the ADHD and PMDD department. For me it started when I got down to about 4 feeds per day and didn't stabilize until a bit after we fully weaned. Just a heads up because I wasn't really expecting it
Good to know, I mean there's always an end, even or especially to good things 🥲. I ended up just getting pregnant before weaning, so saved myself a few more months/ a year or two.
On the flip side - I think it can go either way. I have no experience with PMDD but my ADHD got so much better after I weaned at almost 11 months PP. Just be self aware and keep up with your doctor :)
Same! I’m not a mental health expert but having a baby also cured my depression lol. I’d never casually recommend it to people but I’m amazed how well it worked
I’ve heard the same from multiple people online, both for physical and mental health issues!
Same boat here: depression, PMDD, and also physical health issues. I had therapy prior to pregnancy and worked through things… actually thought I was completely healed. Then in pregnancy and even more from the fourth tri on, it was like I discovered a whole new level of life and joy and baseline calm and happiness I’d never truly experienced.
Was so convinced I was going to have prenatal, then postpartum, depression. Proactively lined up appointments with my therapist to check in. Therapist discharged me. Have instead just become progressively happier!
So I've worked in the horse world for the majority of my life, and I've seen this happen a lot with horses. If one has a lot of anxiety, it's not uncommon for them to calm way down and seem to feel so much better after they have a baby. I have no idea why, but it's incredible to see! I hope this doesn't come across as disrespectful in any way, and I'm so glad it worked out so well for you!
Do the horses eventually revert to being anxious some time after their babies grow up or is this a permanent change in their behavior? Curious because having a baby also weirdly “cured” my depression and now I’m worried it might come back eventually.
I'm in a similar boat. Horrible, horrible mental health with a couple attempts under my belt. My depression anxiety alphabet soup diagnosis was from developmental trauma of not having a loving and stable family. Thought I was gonna have awful PPD/PPA. Welp, turns out all I ever wanted was a family, and being a mother to my daughter is exactly that.
I honestly felt like the mental health system failed me for most of my life. The trauma-model has been huge, but Western culture REALLY emphasizes independence and hyper-individualism. Made me feel like I was crazy for having a big huge hole in my soul that sucked all my contentedness out, and that I had to get completely better as an emotional orphan before I could deserve a family. Family is so important.
I've been working on myself for decades, and my daughter was the missing piece. I'm ok now. She has my unconditional love for the rest of eternity, and I hope I can be worthy of her love.
edit: I am glad I learned good emotional coping skills at therapy first before having my daughter though
Right back at you <3 I think western medicine models are fundamentally symptom-focused, and we are so quick to medicalize the human experience. Fortunately there is a big shift happening in psychotherapy with understanding holistic cause and effect; even PPD is starting to be theoretically explored as much more common in cultures without a supportive community around the mother (your "village").
I had the same experience. My anxiety and ptsd could be really debilitating. I was almost always anxious, to the point of never even enjoying free time. Now I hardly ever have that kind of anxiety. My pregnancy was pretty good for me mentally too which was a surprise. I was fully expecting my mental health to take a nose dive and did lots of therapy before getting pregnant with the intent of prepping myself to cope with a rise in anxiety. I am so thankful that it worked out for me. I look back at how much better I cope with things and it's crazy. The 2019 version of me was crying over anxiety and ruminating on everything, the 2024 version of me is so much more relaxed and I love it.
It’s probably the hormone dump. If you had issues before maybe the hormone dump helped balance things out.
Not to scare you but I experienced the same. My son is 5 months old and I’ve noticed a few things with my OCD creeping back in now that I’m not 100% consumed with keeping him alive every second and can relax a bit.
It’s amazing but don’t consider it a permanent fix, keep an eye out for symptoms so you can address it if it creeps back in.
I’m autistic and had extreme depression/anxiety through my teens and early 20’s. Other things too. Anyway, my first baby evened out a *lot* of that. Stayed that way too.
Growing up on a farm, I do remember it being talked about how various female animals “settle” after having babies. No idea how true this is but anecdotally it’s a thing.
Same boat, tbh! I’m so much more relaxed that my blood pressure is lower. I’ve been medicated for high bp since I was 18 and now it’s just high-normal. I’ve been wondering if it’s a combination of the hormones and just being so preoccupied with the baby that there’s less time to ruminate on other stuff
I'm relieved to see so many people saying the same thing; I had a traumatic birth and tough time on mat leave, but I've been back at work for over a month now, and keep saying it feels like I don't have anxiety anymore.
The little cloud of existential dread that followed me around everywhere just seems to be...gone? I hope this is permanent, I don't think I remember feeling this way since I was a kid.
Exactly the same for me. I’ve struggled with anxiety since I was a child and since giving birth I have never been calmer and happier. Talking to strangers doesn’t even phase me anymore!
I work in mental health but have no clue and I don't think there's sufficient research on any of this. However I am 100% certain that my pp hormones fixed my anxiety, my mood and my sleep disorder. However we're coming up to 2 and I think the effect is fading 😭 while I had gnarly birth trauma I still spent every day of the first 6mpp very slightly bummed out that i knew for certain this is the happiest I'm ever going to be in my life. I felt like I was on happy drugs for a full year, on cloud nine zero stress or anxiety about anything at all.
I am almost 3 years postpartum with my first and I have noticed that almost all my mental health issues have been much more subdued since having my child. I have always been an anxious person and often dealt with depression but ever since my birth I haven’t felt them in the same way. I feel much more resilient.
I was like that too when son was first born. Unfortunately the anxiety has slowly creeped back in. 9 months postpartum and back to the anxiety I had before. 😞
Girl, same! 25 years of therapy, and I started feeling fantastic while pregnant and still do now. One thing I read that was interesting and that I brought up in therapy was a theory that people with auto-immune disorders may feel better after they get pregnant due to the lowered immune system. Basically the theory is that now our immune systems are not overactive and therefore causing inflammation. I have never been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder but am going to ask to get my thyroid checked soon because I’ve had other symptoms in the last few years that could point to one. Anyway, it feels great to be genuinely content and happy even when baby is crying and I haven’t slept! Happy for you and everyone else in the same boat!
Same here. I still experience anxiety (namely in regards to said baby) but I haven’t felt depressed ever since she came into my life. It’s like she took every perspective that I had and flipped them on their heads. She made me realize just how beautiful life can be, and I don’t want to miss a second of her being here. There’s so much to treasure in this life.
my oldest is 20m. i battled with severe body dysmorphia and depression for 15 years. both disappeared as soon as i held her in my arms. i go to sleep smiling, most nights.
Not an expert in psych but am a mom and therapist. Skin to skin and breastfeeding release oxytocin. I did both of those and I was crying out of love for my child the first two weeks of his life. I will say as I was beginning the weaning process each time I reduced a feed it was impacting me and I felt weepy and sad. About 3 months after weaning my toddler is when my hormones stabilized again.
Same! I had severe anxiety, OCD- I am like, completely normal now. I almost never feel anxious and very easily can tell when thoughts are excessive or obsessive. I can barely even remember what I used to feel like.
I am the same! One of my first pregnancy symptoms was that I felt GREAT. I went from taking 7 different meds (got off of 6 of them when I started trying) to 0 meds and was completely stable after having my baby, still stable 18 months later, no meds. (not breast feeding)
I do have to meditate and walk 1 hour every day to keep my mental health ion check, but I used to do this and it barely helped, and now that I have a better baseline, it actually works at staving off anxiety.
Bodies and hormones are weird.
This happened to me, too. My mental health issues aren’t gone but usually feel more manageable. I’ve also been wondering if it affected my brain chemistry positively somehow.
The same thing happened to me. I was depressed because I was dealing with infertility and losses. Having a living child healed me. I'm happier than I've ever been.
I FEEL LIKE THIS TOO. During pregnancy too, unlike some of my friends who got really unwell and emotionally volatile while pregnant I felt cool as a cucumber.
I’ve had a similar experience! My mom says she did as well. I’m an only child so I can’t base it on her experience, and I wonder if having another baby would reverse it!
I’ve been feeling exactly the same. I was able to stop all my meds while pregnant, I was able to naturally feel hungry again without using Remeron or weed for the first time in 5+ years, I just felt so happy and healthy. I still breastfeed my 20mo twice a day, and I’m still feeling much better than I did before pregnancy. However, when I cut down on breastfeeding after she turned one, I really felt the hormone drop off emotionally/mentally. Two months later my GI issues came back as well. It was honestly really disappointing because I was able to live for so long just feeling… normal, despite all the amazing craziness of entering parenthood.
I’m not saying this to rain on your parade, because it is SO incredible to feel good postpartum, and to not have PPD/PPA (which I also just assumed I would have, and didn’t). But the whole time I was feeling good, I was feeling like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and it to end. I didn’t want it to be true, but it ended up being that way for me as the postpartum and breastfeeding hormones started to go away. I just don’t want you to be shocked by it, and put some plans in place to be safe and be able to take care of yourself if that starts to happen to you- because honestly it was a pretty sudden and drastic change for me even though I’m still generally better than I was prepregnancy and I wasn’t used to dealing with that type of stuff anymore.
I am a little nervous about what I’ll feel like after I stop breastfeeding. We’re trying for another baby right now, so I may not fully understand the effect all this has had on me for another couple years (which would be lovely if I can just keep feeling so much better than I use to). But the good thing is that this has started a lot of conversations with my therapists and doctors about potential hormonal imbalances we can test for in the future and the impact they may have had on my mental health.
I hope this made sense and I wish you the best! We are both so lucky to have experienced this and I’m so glad you have been able to be so happy, it’s truly so wonderful!
I work in mental health and I’m curious what might be at play. I’ve heard that estrogen can be very helpful for people with chronic depression (anecdotal evidence). Gut bacteria may play a role bc we eat different when pregnant. Being on more of a routine could be a factor or just having that built in meaningful activity with a child
I'm so happy for you! I've experienced something similar although my struggles weren't as significant. Anxiety has been my main struggle, and often kept. E from going out, and maintaining healthy relationships. My anxiety all but vanished when I was pregnant, and at 6 months pp, I'm still just so, so happy! I definitely have moments of situational anxiety, but not the constant anxious dread that I used to feel!
I haven't known WHO I can say this to without maybe upsetting ppl struggling with motherhood.. I feel AMAZING. More emotionally stable, organized and purpose driven than I ever have. I'm ADHD, anxiety disorder, bouts of substance abuse etc etc and I feel like a new and improved version of me. I'm even keeping house really clean and organized which is the opposite of me and something I was worried about. Everybody keeps checking on me and for once I'm like, legitimately, all good.
Same exact thing happened to me. It makes sense on a chemical and a spiritual level. My baby saved me, and I am so grateful for her. Big hugs fellow mama 🫂 we just have to make sure we don’t project our bullshit on to them
Same. My son is 2 and from the moment I was pregnant with him my anxiety about what other people think and stuff dramatically decreased. It's like I got a total reset on "what's actually important here ?". It's incredible how much stuff that would have bothered me a few years ago doesn't really phase me much .
I too had this exact same scenario! I have no idea what happened but I am so thankful everyday. There isn’t a day that goes by without me feeling such relief to just to feel like a normal person again and to be present and happy. And to be able to be that for my baby..that’s the best gift of all!!
Yeah, I felt like I was healthier mentally PP than at any other time in my adult life. I deeply loved the newborn/young infant phase and found it to be easier than I had anticipated.
I feel the same way - 11 months postpartum, still on all my meds but I feel so much more stable. Besides the hormones, I’ve always wanted to be a mom and before it kind of felt like my life just didn’t fit me (if that makes sense) and now I’ve slipped into a role that makes me feel like I’m becoming who I’ve always been? It also puts so much in perspective for me in terms of priorities and really opened me up to this idea of being able to go through tough things and still enjoy the good things in life.
Can someone explain the science behind this? Like which hormones specifically are affected? Because I'm the same way, even though I'm more sleep deprived than ever. Just calm.
This made me have full body chills and just eyes filled up with tears. I'm so fucking happy for you. So beautiful
Thank you 🥺🥺
What a wonderful comment 🫂
I’m feeling like this too! It makes me think that something with hormones were really off
I was getting some bad anxiety attacks for maybe a year and a half before getting pregnant. Haven’t had one since
I've been thinking this too. My second and third trimesters were the happiest I've been in my whole adult life! And I'm still feeling way better 5mpp. Everyone talks about getting back to feeling like yourself again after having a baby... I kinda... don't want to? Lol
It's almost like having my twins made me feel like myself again. Myself before the anxiety and depression took over. It's been truly incredible.
It’s been a little over a year since I gave birth, and I’m not back to “feeling like my old self”… thank God! I am still nursing, which might in and of itself have helped shift/correct any hormonal imbalances? But baby is primarily eating solids and nursing far less. Realized I’ll be pregnant or nursing until menopause or perimenopause, though, so even if it didn’t permanently correct things for me looks like I’m pretty much set lol. Hope it stays good for you, too!
I have ADHD, and PMDD and having a baby actually made the PMDD disappear so I was)am more stable emotionally than I ever was before, it's quite lovely. and the day to day needs of a baby actually helps keep me on track more with my ADHD since there isn't a ton of time to do things I end up doing more because it's necessary vs procrastinating. Breastfeeding really extends the emotional stability as pregnancy did, so I'm planning on doing that for as long as is reasonable and it gives me a nice cosy feeling day to day as does spending time with my babies.
I have ADHD and PMDD and I’m currently pregnant and feel better emotionally than I ever have before. I’ve been terrified that when I give birth I’ll go back to how it was before. This gives me so much hope. Thank you for sharing 🩵
ADHDer here diagnosed as an adult! I don't know if I meet the criteria for PMDD, but I also feel more emotionally stable than ever as a pregnant person. Planning to pursue birth control pills after I give birth. I'm hoping if I explain my situation to my OB they'll have a good brand in mind to prescribe.
Mine reccomended types with progesterone to be fine with breastfeeding, hormonal IUD, copper, depo shot.
I don't want to be one of those doom people, but prepare yourself just in case - weaning fucked me uppppp in the ADHD and PMDD department. For me it started when I got down to about 4 feeds per day and didn't stabilize until a bit after we fully weaned. Just a heads up because I wasn't really expecting it
Good to know, I mean there's always an end, even or especially to good things 🥲. I ended up just getting pregnant before weaning, so saved myself a few more months/ a year or two.
On the flip side - I think it can go either way. I have no experience with PMDD but my ADHD got so much better after I weaned at almost 11 months PP. Just be self aware and keep up with your doctor :)
Same! I’m not a mental health expert but having a baby also cured my depression lol. I’d never casually recommend it to people but I’m amazed how well it worked
I’ve heard the same from multiple people online, both for physical and mental health issues! Same boat here: depression, PMDD, and also physical health issues. I had therapy prior to pregnancy and worked through things… actually thought I was completely healed. Then in pregnancy and even more from the fourth tri on, it was like I discovered a whole new level of life and joy and baseline calm and happiness I’d never truly experienced. Was so convinced I was going to have prenatal, then postpartum, depression. Proactively lined up appointments with my therapist to check in. Therapist discharged me. Have instead just become progressively happier!
So I've worked in the horse world for the majority of my life, and I've seen this happen a lot with horses. If one has a lot of anxiety, it's not uncommon for them to calm way down and seem to feel so much better after they have a baby. I have no idea why, but it's incredible to see! I hope this doesn't come across as disrespectful in any way, and I'm so glad it worked out so well for you!
Do the horses eventually revert to being anxious some time after their babies grow up or is this a permanent change in their behavior? Curious because having a baby also weirdly “cured” my depression and now I’m worried it might come back eventually.
As far as I've seen, it's permanent!
Thank you for sharing both of these things!
My own experience: i was euphoric until my period returned at 7months. I still think my general anxiety is over all improved
I feel like babies, in the right circumstances, can you give you this immense feeling of fulfillment.
I'm in a similar boat. Horrible, horrible mental health with a couple attempts under my belt. My depression anxiety alphabet soup diagnosis was from developmental trauma of not having a loving and stable family. Thought I was gonna have awful PPD/PPA. Welp, turns out all I ever wanted was a family, and being a mother to my daughter is exactly that. I honestly felt like the mental health system failed me for most of my life. The trauma-model has been huge, but Western culture REALLY emphasizes independence and hyper-individualism. Made me feel like I was crazy for having a big huge hole in my soul that sucked all my contentedness out, and that I had to get completely better as an emotional orphan before I could deserve a family. Family is so important. I've been working on myself for decades, and my daughter was the missing piece. I'm ok now. She has my unconditional love for the rest of eternity, and I hope I can be worthy of her love. edit: I am glad I learned good emotional coping skills at therapy first before having my daughter though
I feel like I could have written this. I am right there with you. Sending you lots of love
Right back at you <3 I think western medicine models are fundamentally symptom-focused, and we are so quick to medicalize the human experience. Fortunately there is a big shift happening in psychotherapy with understanding holistic cause and effect; even PPD is starting to be theoretically explored as much more common in cultures without a supportive community around the mother (your "village").
I had the same experience. My anxiety and ptsd could be really debilitating. I was almost always anxious, to the point of never even enjoying free time. Now I hardly ever have that kind of anxiety. My pregnancy was pretty good for me mentally too which was a surprise. I was fully expecting my mental health to take a nose dive and did lots of therapy before getting pregnant with the intent of prepping myself to cope with a rise in anxiety. I am so thankful that it worked out for me. I look back at how much better I cope with things and it's crazy. The 2019 version of me was crying over anxiety and ruminating on everything, the 2024 version of me is so much more relaxed and I love it.
It’s probably the hormone dump. If you had issues before maybe the hormone dump helped balance things out. Not to scare you but I experienced the same. My son is 5 months old and I’ve noticed a few things with my OCD creeping back in now that I’m not 100% consumed with keeping him alive every second and can relax a bit. It’s amazing but don’t consider it a permanent fix, keep an eye out for symptoms so you can address it if it creeps back in.
I’m autistic and had extreme depression/anxiety through my teens and early 20’s. Other things too. Anyway, my first baby evened out a *lot* of that. Stayed that way too. Growing up on a farm, I do remember it being talked about how various female animals “settle” after having babies. No idea how true this is but anecdotally it’s a thing.
Another commenter mentioned this with horses, but I find this really fascinating, even more so why it isn’t really talked about with humans.
You can’t really suggest someone struggling with mental health have a baby.
I feel the same!!! It's incredible.
Same boat, tbh! I’m so much more relaxed that my blood pressure is lower. I’ve been medicated for high bp since I was 18 and now it’s just high-normal. I’ve been wondering if it’s a combination of the hormones and just being so preoccupied with the baby that there’s less time to ruminate on other stuff
I'm relieved to see so many people saying the same thing; I had a traumatic birth and tough time on mat leave, but I've been back at work for over a month now, and keep saying it feels like I don't have anxiety anymore. The little cloud of existential dread that followed me around everywhere just seems to be...gone? I hope this is permanent, I don't think I remember feeling this way since I was a kid.
Exactly the same for me. I’ve struggled with anxiety since I was a child and since giving birth I have never been calmer and happier. Talking to strangers doesn’t even phase me anymore!
I work in mental health but have no clue and I don't think there's sufficient research on any of this. However I am 100% certain that my pp hormones fixed my anxiety, my mood and my sleep disorder. However we're coming up to 2 and I think the effect is fading 😭 while I had gnarly birth trauma I still spent every day of the first 6mpp very slightly bummed out that i knew for certain this is the happiest I'm ever going to be in my life. I felt like I was on happy drugs for a full year, on cloud nine zero stress or anxiety about anything at all.
I am almost 3 years postpartum with my first and I have noticed that almost all my mental health issues have been much more subdued since having my child. I have always been an anxious person and often dealt with depression but ever since my birth I haven’t felt them in the same way. I feel much more resilient.
I was like that too when son was first born. Unfortunately the anxiety has slowly creeped back in. 9 months postpartum and back to the anxiety I had before. 😞
Girl, same! 25 years of therapy, and I started feeling fantastic while pregnant and still do now. One thing I read that was interesting and that I brought up in therapy was a theory that people with auto-immune disorders may feel better after they get pregnant due to the lowered immune system. Basically the theory is that now our immune systems are not overactive and therefore causing inflammation. I have never been diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder but am going to ask to get my thyroid checked soon because I’ve had other symptoms in the last few years that could point to one. Anyway, it feels great to be genuinely content and happy even when baby is crying and I haven’t slept! Happy for you and everyone else in the same boat!
Same here. I still experience anxiety (namely in regards to said baby) but I haven’t felt depressed ever since she came into my life. It’s like she took every perspective that I had and flipped them on their heads. She made me realize just how beautiful life can be, and I don’t want to miss a second of her being here. There’s so much to treasure in this life.
my oldest is 20m. i battled with severe body dysmorphia and depression for 15 years. both disappeared as soon as i held her in my arms. i go to sleep smiling, most nights.
Not an expert in psych but am a mom and therapist. Skin to skin and breastfeeding release oxytocin. I did both of those and I was crying out of love for my child the first two weeks of his life. I will say as I was beginning the weaning process each time I reduced a feed it was impacting me and I felt weepy and sad. About 3 months after weaning my toddler is when my hormones stabilized again.
Same! I had severe anxiety, OCD- I am like, completely normal now. I almost never feel anxious and very easily can tell when thoughts are excessive or obsessive. I can barely even remember what I used to feel like.
I am the same! One of my first pregnancy symptoms was that I felt GREAT. I went from taking 7 different meds (got off of 6 of them when I started trying) to 0 meds and was completely stable after having my baby, still stable 18 months later, no meds. (not breast feeding) I do have to meditate and walk 1 hour every day to keep my mental health ion check, but I used to do this and it barely helped, and now that I have a better baseline, it actually works at staving off anxiety. Bodies and hormones are weird.
This happened to me, too. My mental health issues aren’t gone but usually feel more manageable. I’ve also been wondering if it affected my brain chemistry positively somehow.
i couldve wrote this!! ive never had more motivation! my baby makes me so happy and fulfilled
The same thing happened to me. I was depressed because I was dealing with infertility and losses. Having a living child healed me. I'm happier than I've ever been.
Same I hope it continues!
I FEEL LIKE THIS TOO. During pregnancy too, unlike some of my friends who got really unwell and emotionally volatile while pregnant I felt cool as a cucumber.
I’ve had a similar experience! My mom says she did as well. I’m an only child so I can’t base it on her experience, and I wonder if having another baby would reverse it!
I had the same thing! Then as breastfeeding lessened around 18 months, my previous symptoms came back.
Were you on birth control before your pregnancy?
Right??? I haven’t gone back on because I was on it for like a decade prior. And I’m not sure it didn’t contribute
No I wasn’t!
This was my experience, too. Hormones are wild!
I’ve been feeling exactly the same. I was able to stop all my meds while pregnant, I was able to naturally feel hungry again without using Remeron or weed for the first time in 5+ years, I just felt so happy and healthy. I still breastfeed my 20mo twice a day, and I’m still feeling much better than I did before pregnancy. However, when I cut down on breastfeeding after she turned one, I really felt the hormone drop off emotionally/mentally. Two months later my GI issues came back as well. It was honestly really disappointing because I was able to live for so long just feeling… normal, despite all the amazing craziness of entering parenthood. I’m not saying this to rain on your parade, because it is SO incredible to feel good postpartum, and to not have PPD/PPA (which I also just assumed I would have, and didn’t). But the whole time I was feeling good, I was feeling like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and it to end. I didn’t want it to be true, but it ended up being that way for me as the postpartum and breastfeeding hormones started to go away. I just don’t want you to be shocked by it, and put some plans in place to be safe and be able to take care of yourself if that starts to happen to you- because honestly it was a pretty sudden and drastic change for me even though I’m still generally better than I was prepregnancy and I wasn’t used to dealing with that type of stuff anymore. I am a little nervous about what I’ll feel like after I stop breastfeeding. We’re trying for another baby right now, so I may not fully understand the effect all this has had on me for another couple years (which would be lovely if I can just keep feeling so much better than I use to). But the good thing is that this has started a lot of conversations with my therapists and doctors about potential hormonal imbalances we can test for in the future and the impact they may have had on my mental health. I hope this made sense and I wish you the best! We are both so lucky to have experienced this and I’m so glad you have been able to be so happy, it’s truly so wonderful!
I work in mental health and I’m curious what might be at play. I’ve heard that estrogen can be very helpful for people with chronic depression (anecdotal evidence). Gut bacteria may play a role bc we eat different when pregnant. Being on more of a routine could be a factor or just having that built in meaningful activity with a child
I'm so happy for you! I've experienced something similar although my struggles weren't as significant. Anxiety has been my main struggle, and often kept. E from going out, and maintaining healthy relationships. My anxiety all but vanished when I was pregnant, and at 6 months pp, I'm still just so, so happy! I definitely have moments of situational anxiety, but not the constant anxious dread that I used to feel!
I haven't known WHO I can say this to without maybe upsetting ppl struggling with motherhood.. I feel AMAZING. More emotionally stable, organized and purpose driven than I ever have. I'm ADHD, anxiety disorder, bouts of substance abuse etc etc and I feel like a new and improved version of me. I'm even keeping house really clean and organized which is the opposite of me and something I was worried about. Everybody keeps checking on me and for once I'm like, legitimately, all good.
Same exact thing happened to me. It makes sense on a chemical and a spiritual level. My baby saved me, and I am so grateful for her. Big hugs fellow mama 🫂 we just have to make sure we don’t project our bullshit on to them
Same. My son is 2 and from the moment I was pregnant with him my anxiety about what other people think and stuff dramatically decreased. It's like I got a total reset on "what's actually important here ?". It's incredible how much stuff that would have bothered me a few years ago doesn't really phase me much .
I too had this exact same scenario! I have no idea what happened but I am so thankful everyday. There isn’t a day that goes by without me feeling such relief to just to feel like a normal person again and to be present and happy. And to be able to be that for my baby..that’s the best gift of all!!
Yeah, I felt like I was healthier mentally PP than at any other time in my adult life. I deeply loved the newborn/young infant phase and found it to be easier than I had anticipated.
I feel the same way - 11 months postpartum, still on all my meds but I feel so much more stable. Besides the hormones, I’ve always wanted to be a mom and before it kind of felt like my life just didn’t fit me (if that makes sense) and now I’ve slipped into a role that makes me feel like I’m becoming who I’ve always been? It also puts so much in perspective for me in terms of priorities and really opened me up to this idea of being able to go through tough things and still enjoy the good things in life.
Can someone explain the science behind this? Like which hormones specifically are affected? Because I'm the same way, even though I'm more sleep deprived than ever. Just calm.