Post Pregnancy Stress among Mothers

Raising up kids is a stressful and demanding work even though there is lot of love and affection attached to it. Mothers are considered to play a greater role in bringing up children as they are seen more as a person who is responsible for looking after the family and its needs. Men have a role of providing for the needs of family and assuring its security, however, the major responsibility of bringing up kids lies with the mothers.

More moral responsibility is also placed on women to bring up the child as compared to men. Mothers also too keenly take up this responsibility and probably love it too; but the problem lies in getting preoccupied with bringing up the child and forgetting her own health and well being in the process.

There are few stresses that arise out of being a mother too. Firstly it is the change that takes place in the daily routine of the mother once she becomes a mother. Her timings of sleeping, waking up, of feeding, of working etc alter depending upon the needs of the new born child. This disruption in routine can cause tiredness, sleeplessness, exhaustion, fatigue and low mood.

This problem is compounded in families that are nuclear and elderly support and assistance is not available to women. It is also demanding to the physical reserves of the women to look after the baby’s needs, prepare food, wash clothes, change clothes frequently etc.

Sometimes there also might be a feeling of irritation, helplessness, frustration due to sudden crying spells of children, waking up in the middle of the night, lack of continued sleep. If co-operation is not forthcoming from the husband, it can sap the physical energy of the woman and produce stressed out, exhausted feeling.

Changes in the body caused due to pregnancy may also cause unease, discomfort, restlessness, agitation, irritated state of mind, low mood, pain due to heaviness etc. If adequate rest and relaxation is not available to her, stress will pile up.

Women also feel guilty if they aren’t looking out for the kid or feel like disengaging themselves from the child for sometime. So she may avoid doing anything that puts her in spot or makes her appear like she is neglecting the child. This emotional conflict also causes stress.