Real Postnatal Illness Stories

Below are personal accounts from mums and dads who experienced postnatal illness first hand. A word of warning - people's personal stories of postnatal illness can be very distressing particularly if you are feeling vulnerable yourself, be aware of how they make you feel and only read them if your feeling OK. Back to index of stories.

Raj's story - "I first noticed something was wrong with Jane soon after the birth. She became erratic and anxious - every little thing about the baby became a big deal. She became extremely aggressive and threatening to all of us including the baby.

To help her I tried to find help for all the problem areas. Practical help at home, I took her to the doctors to get help with sleeping, asked relatives to come and help and did as much as I could to help feed, clothe and wash the baby and look after at him at night.

We also did couple counseling after our second child I found this helpful because it allowed each of us to express the situation as we saw it in a 'neutral' environment . The counsellor ensured that each of us could speak and be heard by each other. The counsellor helped us explore traits in our backgrounds which contributed to our behaviour and differing approaches. It was an hour a week away from the situation to help us begin to understand what had happened.

My advice to father's who think that their wife may be suffering from POSTNATAL ILLNESS is to do what you can to provide as much practical and emotional support as possible until she is better. If you think your relationship has been affected by what has happened, then I can also recommend counseling."

Raj is married to Jane and has 2 children - Ben and Jamie)

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