Post-Partum Depression: I Believe Sleep Deprivation is a Factor

I got post-partum depression after my second child. I was 29 years old at the time. I believe, and this is my opinion, this type of depression can be stopped with sleep.

My daughter had food allergies to all kinds of things. Her allergies would lead to ear infections overnight and ultimately no sleep. Until I found this out we were at the mercy of an ear infection constantly. Milk is such a huge factor in child allergies. Watch all milk products when you see signs of dry hacky coughs, irritability, unexplained anger, ear infections, etc. Read labels. Milk is in everything processed from hot dogs to chicken bouillon. Look for the word casein if you suspect milk allergies.

As time went on my two year old could eat something with nuts in it and shortly after start a hacky cough. The cough would lead into an ear infection by morning. If any of you have had a kid with an ear infection you know there is no sleep. You have a crying screaming kid on your hands. This lack of sleep over time I do believe led to my severe depression.

My oldest daughter was allergic to milk and we were not aware of the symptoms until she was early teens. She grunted and cleared her throat all the time. A friend of mine was visiting and told me that was what her mother did when she drank milk and was allergic to it. Since learning about allergies took several years for me to get I lost sleep every single night. By the time the youngest was in school I was still so exhausted I couldn't shake the depression. Sleep has to be caught up to make up. If you lose sleep one night you still have a deficit until you get that much more sleep on top of a normal 6-8 hours you need every single day.

Mothers with young children need help from family and friends when they lose sleep to help them catch up. It is extremely important to the welfare of the children she is caring for throughout the day and it damn sure is important to her mental health. Fathers need to get involved and take over for Mom. Depression will stay with you until you gain enough sleep to recharge your serotonin or until the Dr. has to prescribe medication to do the same.