Netmums.com is the largest parenting website in the UK with more than 4.5millions users a week. Netmums has local sites that cover all areas of the UK and members in the Irish Republic and worldwide too. Netmums is free to join and use.
Recognising the signs of Postnatal Depression
Postnatal depression can be tricky for doctors to diagnose as it is very common to feel out of your depth and alone after having a baby. As many as one in three mums can however go on to develop PND so we can help you recognise the signs and support you through your recovery. The following link explains this in more depth and you will also be able to hear a Mum talking about her experiences of Postnatal Depression http://www.netmums.com/parenting-support/postnatal-depression
Netmums also hosts the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Score online which gives mums an indication of how they might be feeling – the following link explains what all that means.
How does Netmums help Mums recover from Postnatal Depression?
Netmums helps Mums recover from PND in many ways, the site hosts self-help pages which can be viewed here:
http://www.netmums.com/parenting-support/g/10-steps-to-recovery-from-pnd
Netmums also has an online PND course, which has been well researched and presented nationally https://womensmentalhealth.org/posts/netmums-internet-based-intervention-women-postpartum-depression/
On the Netmums forums we have a specific PND board where we have parent supporters working every morning and evening 365 days of the year to provide additional support to mums in most need. Most mums, however, find that peer-to-peer support is a fabulous help and talking to mums in the same situation or reading their stories of recovery is a big help. Mums can post at any time of the day or night and can use our anonymous login function if they feel like can express their feelings better in this way.
As Netmums has active local site we encourage other Mums to support each other via the use of our local Meet-a-Mum board – where Mums can arrange to meet other like-minded parents in their local area. They can chat beforehand using our secure messaging service which is helpful to get to know people off-line before you meet them in the flesh.
Also we list Baby & Toddler Groups and the Sure Start Children’s Centres, which are all very practical ways to find someone to talk to on a personal level.
Netmums is here for all aspects of a parent’s life from pregnancy through to the teenage years, we all go through challenges and we are here to support all of those.
Feel free to contact Jill on Facebook or Twitter @netmumsjillh she would love to hear from you!
Jill is the Northern Ireland editor of www.netmums.com