Back when Catrina Popelier was working as a nurse, she would see it frequently. A mother filled with anxiety and panic after having her baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had one mom getting up five times in the night to check if the baby was breathing. That is not okay,\u201d said Popelier, who is now the children\u2019s health program director for First Things First, Arizona\u2019s early childhood agency. \u201cI had a mom who was so anxious after she was told she shouldn\u2019t be drinking milk that she stopped eating altogether. Sometimes new moms have all these upsetting thoughts that they can\u2019t get out of their mind and they have no idea who to go to.\u201d<\/p>\n
A new national hotline provides free, confidential support, resources and referrals to any pregnant and postpartum mother facing mental health challenges and their loved ones. The National Maternal Mental Health Hotline service is available via phone and text in English or Spanish.\u00a0 Pregnant and postpartum moms and their partners can call or text 1-833-943-5746 to connect with counselors 24\/7.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love this because it\u2019s a warm handoff,\u201d Popelier said. \u201cThese are trained providers who can provide connections to local resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a stigma around mental health and new mothers, Popelier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes mothers are told, \u2018Oh, you\u2019re postpartum. You\u2019ll get over it.\u2019 Or \u2018It\u2019s all in your head. You\u2019ll be fine,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cBut more mothers need to know that it\u2019s ok to help your brain in the same way you\u2019d treat a sore throat. Mental health is just as important as treating diabetes or a bout of pneumonia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes moms will have bad thoughts about hurting themselves or their baby. Around a quarter of new moms will develop depression and anxiety, Popelier said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe highest time for a mother to contemplate and commit suicide is around the birth of a child,\u201d she said. \u201cNew mothers are thinking, \u2018How can I think this about my baby? I should be happy. I can\u2019t tell anyone that I\u2019m miserable or that I don\u2019t like my baby.\u2019 They know it\u2019s not right and they get so scared of having someone take away their baby. Not many moms out there begin motherhood thinking, \u2018I\u2019m going to be a bad mom.\u2019 Everyone wants to be a good mom. How can we empower these women to be good moms?\u201d<\/p>\n
The hotline is a push in the right direction to normalize mental health. Sometimes moms have previously been prone to mental health challenges, and they are aware of it. But sometimes, it can be scarier for mothers who have never experienced mental health challenges previously. For example, some moms worry that they might hurt themselves or their baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI worked with one mom who said she couldn\u2019t give her baby a bath, because she thought she might drown her baby,\u201d Popelier said. \u201cThose horrible thoughts went away after she got help. But so many times, they don\u2019t know where to go for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hotline, which is funded by the Health Resources & Services Administration, will put mothers or families in touch with someone who will ask the right questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s something that continues for more than a couple of weeks \u2014 anger, sadness, guilt, lack of interest in the baby, thoughts of hopelessness,\u201d Popelier said. \u201cThoughts that they can\u2019t stop having, that\u2019s the time to reach out for help.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hotline will also be helpful to early childhood providers, who sometimes are on the frontlines of working with families with a new baby.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany times, providers like home visitors have to help manage the fallout of whatever happens to our families,\u201d Popelier said. \u201cIt\u2019s really important that we\u2019re able to share new information to help with this mental health crisis that has always been there. Everyone needs to be talking about it because everyone needs to be able to link these women to vital resources.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pregnant and postpartum moms and their partners can call or text 1-833-943-5746 to connect with counselors 24\/7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":45148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[155],"class_list":["post-45147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mental-health"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n