What does it feel like to have postnatal depression? The truth is that it can feel different for everyone. We often associate the word depression with feelings of low mood and sadness. But, when you have PND you can feel a lot of different emotions too, including anxiety and anger.
Some of the things you might experience can inlcude:
feeling anxious or irritable
not sleeping even when your baby sleeps
poor appetite (or comfort eating)
guilty and negative thoughts
being unable to enjoy things
feeling that life just isn’t worth living
finding it hard to look after yourself and the baby. (Source)
We have also written a useful blog which will help you understand if what you’re feeling is the baby blues or PND. You can find it here.
If you have PND we have put together a list of places where you can get help and support. These include places that run helplines and texting services so that you can access support easily and quickly when you need it. Head to our PND Support page to find all the information.
Mums share what it feels like to have PND
Emily (one of our co-founders) was the founder of an app called Mummy Links before she joined Sara on her Happity journey. With the help MummyLinks community she created this video to help everyone understand what it feels like to have PND:
PND Support
And this video provides some insight from those working to help parents struggling:
If you have PND you’re not alone
I in 5 mums suffer from PND. So, if you’re struggling mentally after birth then you’re definitely not alone.
Blogs about PND
Emily has written a number of blogs during her MummyLinks days on mental health, and we’ve had some great contributors too. Find some useful blogs below:
Before becoming co-founder of Happity, Emily set up MummyLinks as a safe place for mums to meet up for local playdates.
Why? Because she had found becoming a new mum very lonely and isolating. Made worse because she suffered from severe postnatal depression.
Emily (co-founder of Happity) talks about feeling lonely as a new mum
Emily found motherhood a lot harder than how she imagined it to be. She says:
When I became a mum I pictured life to be sunny picnics in the park and catching up with friends over coffee whilst baby slept in my arms. That happened occasionally (or all the time if you look at my social media at the time!), but most of the time it was a lot tougher…
Emily’s experience of PND
Emily found herself at her loneliest during maternity leave – home alone with a small baby. She says:
“In particular, I found maternity leave lonely at times. I suffered with Post-Natal-Depression which made it worse. But even without that it is tough at times. It’s a big change from going out to work most days, having a social life, and running your own schedule.
I’d find it particularly tough if a mum friends (completely understandably!) cancelled last minute due to their baby being sick or similar. I’d Whatsapp my other mum friends frantically trying to find somebody else to meet with but they were busy already most of the time. This made me feel even more lonely.
I kept thinking, if I’m lonely at home then there must be tons of other mums in exactly the same position. Surely it’s not just me? Right…? (Ok maybe it is and the rest of you are all out at a big party having fun together?)
And I don’t think mums should be lonely. We needn’t be as there are enough of us around! But in this age of high house prices and great technology, we often find ourselves far from friends and family when we start having babies. I heard the other day that 92% of new mums now struggle with loneliness at some point. I think that’s awful.
I’m a strong believer that it takes a village to raise a child (and keep a mum happy!) That’s why I set up MummyLinks.
I am so excited to now be bringing the MummyLinks community of playdates and mental health support together with Happity because classes and activities for you and your little one are another great way to meet like-minded parents and beat loneliness”
Want To Get Out And About, Have Fun With Your Baby Or Toddler, And Meet Other Parents?
Search Happity to find everything that’s happening for the under-5’s in your local area – from music and singing classes, to messy play, arts and crafts, baby massage, gymnastics and more. Simply enter your postcode and child’s age to search, and then book your spot in a few taps. Enjoy dedicated fun time with your little one, watch their skills develop, and make friends at the same time. Mums, dads, grandparents and carers will all find something to love!
Two apps, two female founders and one united mission – joining together to address maternal mental health
2nd September 2019 marks the start of pre and postnatal depression awareness week. It also marks the start of new beginnings for Happity!
Happity is merging with the hugely supportive community of MummyLinks app – and the founder Emily Tredget, is coming on board to join Sara Tateno officially as co-founder of Happity.
As mums, we’ve each experienced struggles with new parenthood – Emily suffered postnatal depression and anxiety, and Sara had a traumatic birth.
We both realised that getting out of the house day by day, forming new friendships and having ongoing support in our local communities, was critical in helping us get through that period. And we were each driven to find a way to make life less lonely for the new parents following us, supporting maternal mental health by doing so.
About Us
Sara Tateno, Founder of Happity
Sara created Happity to make it quick and easy to find local baby playgroups and classes. It aims to help parents escape from the house – whether booking in advance, or at the last minute. It was a problem she’d been so frustrated with, that she re-trained as a web developer to build the site. Read more about Sara’s story.
Emily Tredget founder of MummyLinks
Emily created MummyLinks as a safe space for mums to meet. It allows approved mums to create local playdates and meet up in real life. She has campaigned tirelessly over the past 3 years to raise awareness of maternal mental health issues, appearing on national news and running the hugely successful #ShoutieSelfie social media campaign each year.Read more about Emily’s story.
Why are we merging?
Bringing MummyLinks and Happity together marks a momentous step in our two parallel journeys. We have a strong shared vision and mission. We share the same values and care passionately about the type of organisation we’re building.
As mums, we’re striving to create a truly flexible workplace that employs talented people. We operate ethically and put people first in a world where tech startups are often encouraged to pursue profit above all else.
Together we will enable you to meet other parents and build your local community through both playdates and playgroups – something that sadly didn’t exist when we became new mums ourselves.
What happens next?
For now, you’ll continue to have access to all the brilliant resources from both Happity and MummyLinks, but you can expect to see new content and updates to the Happity website shortly! We’ll be moving over a lot of the mental health support content from MummyLinks to here.
We’re also launching a new Happity mobile app, and over time incorporate all the great features of MummyLinks too.
We are so grateful to everyone who has supported each of us on our journey to date and hope you’ll continue to join us along this mission!
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