Post natal depression/anxiety, is it worse the 2nd time around

[kt79]

Hi I suffered from bad postnatal depression/anxiety with my first child who is now 5 and have recently fallen pregnant again. Would love to hear how people coped after having there 2nd child? whether it was better or worse. My main concern is that I am a single parent and have no family network around me

[Tufty]

Hi,

I had PND with my first child (who will be 16 next month!), I had not had any emotional problems up until then and was unwell for about 6 months - really bad for the first two months when I was hospitalised twice.

Anyway, my second child was born when my first was only 17 months old and he was a cryer - didn't sleep, eat just cried and cried for months BUT I was fine. It didn't make sense my first baby was a model baby yet I very ill and with my second I was tired and fed up with all his crying but I was not depressed or anxious.

I did receive Progesterone injections after the birth of my second as it was thought at the time to reduce PND but I don't believe there is any evidence that it works, but it didn't make me feel worse either. A dr called Katrina Dalton wrote lots about PND if you want any info on the progesterone injections.

I knew within days that I felt different with my second and I was going to be OK. Hope this helps
Sam