Understanding Postpartum Anxiety for Moms in Denver: How a Postpartum Therapist Can Help you Heal
If you’ve dealt with postpartum anxiety, you know how frustrating it can be to be spending your first months with your new baby consumed with worry, tension and unease. We are fed so many images throughout our pregnancy (and really, our entire lives) of blissful mothers snuggling and bonding with their new babies, seemingly without a care in the world. When those feelings don’t come, or maybe are present in some capacity but alternate with feelings of intense dread, panic or fear, it can feel like we’re doing something terribly wrong. Postpartum anxiety is in fact incredibly common - as many as 34.5% of new moms experience anxiety in their first 6 months postpartum. Because of the stigma and feelings of shame that new moms can experience if they acknowledge their struggles, we don’t talk about this reality in our society enough. Let’s delve into getting a better understanding of postpartum anxiety, how to cope and how working with a postpartum anxiety therapist can help.
What is Postpartum Anxiety?
Postpartum anxiety is defined as excessive worry that occurs during the postpartum period, or first year after giving birth. Postpartum anxiety is thought to be triggered by the sharp drop in pregnancy hormones after you give birth as well as ongoing hormonal fluctuations that occur throughout the first year, including during weaning from breastfeeding or changing in feeding patterns. Hormones combined with a new routine, new role, new responsibilities and sleep deprivation cause many new moms to feel anxious, overwhelmed and consumed with worry. You may be more likely to experience postpartum anxiety if you dealt with anxiety earlier in your life, but this is not always the case - women who have never struggled with anxiety before can still be susceptible to postpartum anxiety.
Signs of Postpartum Anxiety
What does postpartum anxiety look like? Here are some examples of signs and symptoms that women dealing with postpartum anxiety may experience:
Intense worry and anxiety, often related to your own or your baby’s health
Struggling to control your worries, intrusive thoughts or “thought spirals”
Irritability and agitation
Feelings of dread or fear that something “bad” will happen
Restlessness and feeling on edge
Struggling to concentrate or your mind going blank
Difficulty falling or staying asleep, even when your baby is sleeping (often due to racing thoughts)
Bodily symptoms such as muscle tension, headaches, shortness of breath, stomach problems or racing heart rate
Panic attacks
Many women find that their symptoms are worse at night, especially during late night feedings, or as bedtime approaches (“the sundown scaries”) . However this is not always the case, and postpartum anxiety can rear its head throughout any point in your day.
Coping with Postpartum Anxiety in Denver
The good news is, there are things you can do to help feel less anxious and more in control. Here are some ideas for coping tools to deal with postpartum anxiety:
Practice Mindfulness and Relaxation Techniques
Incorporating mindfulness techniques into your day to day can make a huge difference in your experience of postpartum anxiety. Mindfulness and relaxation exercises can be incredibly helpful for getting out of your head and intentionally focusing on the present moment. Check out my page on present moment awareness techniques for tips.
Get Outside!
Some days, getting out of the house with a newborn can feel like an insurmountable hurdle - between packing the diaper bag, getting both of you dressed and planning feed times, sometimes we can fall into the trap of thinking “what’s the point?” But getting outside can really be helpful for managing your anxiety - it forces you to focus on something besides your worries, and also gets you and your baby used to new routines and environments. When it comes to anxiety, the more we avoid the thing that makes us anxious, the more our fear grows. Denver has plenty of options for new mamas looking to get out. Meet a friend at a coffee shop, go for a stroll in Wash Park, or check out the infant room at the Denver Children’s Museum . For more ideas, check out my page on mental health resources for new moms in Denver.
“Bloom” infant exhibit at Denver Children’s Museum.
Communicate Your Needs
As new moms, we can often have the mindset of feeling like we need to do it all on our own. But that just isn’t realistic - our modern culture has become more and more isolated from the social communities that historically participated in childrearing. It really does “take a village” to raise a child. Think about who your support system is - your partner, extended family, friends or local moms groups. Don’t be afraid to communicate and ask your help - you might be surprised how others in your life have dealt with (or are currently!) dealing with some of the same feelings. Communication between partners is especially important when dealing with postpartum mental health - your partner isn’t going to know what you need unless you tell them. It is healthy to need time to yourself, away from your baby - don’t be afraid to let your partner step in so that you can join a friend for dinner, get a manicure or just go for a walk by yourself.
Exercise
Exercise may feel like the last thing you want to do with a new baby at home - and can also feel incredibly challenging to make time for. The first few months postpartum are a time of rest, and everyone recovers physically from childbirth on their own schedule. But once your body is feeling healed, research shows that women who are more active in occupational and physical activities have a lower risk of developing postpartum mental health concerns. If getting to the gym or an exercise class doesn’t feel feasible, see what you can make 20 minutes for during your day - a short yoga video, walk around your neighborhood or quick bike ride. The relationship between exercise and improved mental health is well-studied, and exercise can help with postpartum mental health as well.
Support Groups
Joining a support group can be a game-changer in finding a community of new moms who are dealing with similar struggles. Check and see if your hospital offers a group for moms who gave birth around the same time as you - if not, MAMAs Connect is a great support in-person group run through Children’s Hospital Colorado for moms struggling with postpartum depression or anxiety, and Postpartum Support International offers over 50 free online support groups on topics such as mindfulness, postpartum OCD, coping with pregnancy loss and more. Colorado’s state PSI chapter is very active and also has a ton of great resources for new moms.
How Postpartum Therapy Can Help
Coping tools and support groups are invaluable resources to have during the postpartum period. But sometimes, it may feel like you’ve tried everything under the sun, and still your anxious thoughts feel like they’re blaring over a loudspeaker in your head. Or maybe becoming a parent is bringing up things for you from your own childhood that you thought you’d moved on from, or making other relationships in your life more challenging. That’s where postpartum anxiety therapy can help. Postpartum anxiety therapy can help you learn tools to change your relationship to anxious thoughts so that they stop having so much power over you. Postpartum anxiety therapy can help you learn tools to communicate your needs to partner and loved ones, and identify (and push through!) barriers that seem to get in the way. Postpartum therapy can help to hold you accountable to the things that you know will make you feel better, but struggle to find the motivation to do on your own. And postpartum anxiety therapy will provide a safe, healing space to take an hour out of your week that is just for you, and process the feelings that it doesn’t feel safe to talk about with anyone else in your life.
Work with a Denver Postpartum Anxiety Therapist
Root to Rise Therapy specializes in postpartum mental health. Victoria is a trained postpartum anxiety therapist in Denver who will help you heal from your past and feel less anxious in the present, so that you can really make the most of this precious time in your life. Postpartum therapy will help you make sense of your new identity as a mom, and build confidence in your ability to give your child exactly what they need, just by being you. Reach out today for a free consultation for postpartum anxiety therapy in Denver today.
Other Services at Root to Rise Therapy:
Other mental health services at Root to Rise Therapy include Therapy for Anxiety, Therapy for Perfectionism, Therapy for People-Pleasing, Cultural Identity Counseling, ADHD Therapy, Counseling for Moms and Postpartum Counseling. I see clients located in Colorado, New York and New Jersey. Contact me to learn more about how I can help you overcome anxiety and reclaim your life!
