Post Partum Depression

Postpartum depression is sneaky. It occurs within minutes, days, weeks or months after childbirth. It is considered a major depressive episode and it is not something that is natural or that can be ignored. It is also not treated with vitamins as everybody's favorite post partum expert Tom Cruise has suggested. It is just not 'the baby blues.' 

Symptoms of post partum depression include anxiety, agoraphobia, paranoia persistent feeling down, lethargy, indecisiveness, lack of care about the appearance, negative thinking, feeling overwhelmed, an inability to concentrate, disassociation, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, insomnia or oversleeping, fatigue, and irritable mood.

Sometimes this form of depression is also accompanied by hateful thoughts about the child or including the desire to harm or kill the child. You might feel like you can't handle being in the same room as the child one more minute longer. 

When is postpartum considered to be serious?  A mild case of the baby blues officially becomes post partum if feelings of sadness after birth last more than two weeks. If you know someone like this encourage him or her to get help. It is also very important to stress to your friend that none of this is her fault. Postpartum depression is quite common. It occurs in about 15 percent of mothers. 

Mothers most likely to get post-partum are those who already have a history of depression and those who have had it before. There seems to be no real explanation as to why some new mothers experience postpartum depression and others do not.  Doctors blame it on lowered estrogen levels and shifts in progesterone, cortisol, and beta-endorphin levels. In other words, post partum is the consequence of your body manufacturing hormones and chemicals in a way that makes you feel sad, hostile or depressed. 

Unfortunately many women do not recognize the chemical and hormonal activity going on in their body as being responsible for the way they feel. They prefer to blame themselves because they feel so inadequate and guilty about the hostility that they feel towards their child. Usually the inner critic is turned on full blast and you can't do anything right. If you feel suicidal after having a baby or if you know a mother that has any of the above symptoms it is very important that you get her to be assessed by a medical professional as soon as possible.

Post-partum is a serious condition that can create an altered state of reality. Sadly sometimes post partum depression can cost both the mother and the baby their lives. However this does not mean you want to treat the mother like a murderer! Don't give post partum any more stigma then it already has a condition.  Too many mothers who have had it have been described as unfit. 

Keep in mind too that talking to an individual with post-partum depression can be quite difficult. This is because part of the syndrome is irritability and paranoia. She will want to sleep and avoid responsibility but your chore as a friend is to get her out of bed and to see the doctor!

Parenting Tips
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Getting Your Kids To Compost

Given the state of global warming and everything else it is probably a good idea to get your kids compositing.

It is actually quite easy to get them to understand how the whole process work.  It is also a way of gently explaining the natural process of life, death and decay to them. 

The best thing is to describe it as Nature's own recycling system. Just say it is magic and you are turning garbage into dirt if your kids are really. It gets complicated when you want to explain to a kid that that you can't put all kinds of garbage in the compost. Show them that weeds, leaves, grass clipping and vegetable peels are the most suitable by keeping a compost container right on the kitchen counter. Get them in the habit early of throwing their banana peels, orange rinds and bread crusts in there. 

If your child has trouble understanding this use the example of how when leaves drop from a tree, they decay into dirt over time, without any help from anyone Explain that everything that has once lived will eventually turn back into your dirt. Part of your kid's guide to composting should be to explain this natural process and how decomposition begins with thousands of microorganisms.  Try not to scare him or her if she I really little. 

If you know anything about composting you know that these microorganisms feast on anything and generate heat in the process. As the temperature inside the decaying pile of matter rises, fungi, bacteria and insects also help with the decomposition process. Kids can directly assist with this process by helping to turn or stir the compost pile with a stick or a garden fork. This helps add oxygen to the pile in the form of air, which heats the pile up even more.  This heat is absolutely necessary to help kill bacteria.  The more thoroughly and evenly your child distributes air through the pile the sooner you will great fertilizer for your garden. This is really good exercise for a fat kid. 

The sign that the pile has cooled down and that it is clean of bacteria is when you start seeing earthworms in the humus.  This is the cue to start feeding the humus  (the fertilizer) to new plants. Most compost piles rest on bare ground, but you can build the pile on a raised platform of loosely spaced boards. This allows air to be drawn up from the bottom so that it circulates through the compost and allows it to develop the essential soil bacteria more quickly.  If you have a child that is old enough it can help you build this type of open-air composter. 

One of the main reasons to guide your child through the process of composting is to teach them how to be an ethically minded responsible citizen. This is especially important in the decades to come when gardening locally might be a matter of survival thanks to the effects of global warming. 

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