Hey

[Katepi]

Hello, i was diagonised with pp in november 2015 when i had my baby. Is it safe to have another baby after such an illness?

[Mims2014]

I did. I had pp in 2014 after I had my son then had a daughter is 2016 with no pp.

I took antipsychotic drug on day one of delivery (wouldn't stop pp but would mean I'd have some in my system to increase more easily if I did), I didn't breast feed and family did night feeds for a while so I got plenty of sleep.

It was an anxious time and I wouldn't risk it again but she was worth it.

I do feel my pp experience was severe (I was sectioned for three weeks) but I recovered quickly, therefore I was more fortunate than most. I probably wouldn't have had another had I not responded to treatment as quickly xx

[Mims2014 in reply to Mims2014]

Ps. Your chances of pp again are 50%

[Katepi in reply to Mims2014]

Thank u so much for replying my post

[Katepi in reply to Mims2014]

So for now you feel normal? Have u totally recovered dear?

[Mims2014 in reply to Katepi]

Yes I'd say I feel like me but I will always be anxious around my sanity and very self aware of stress xx

[Ellie_at_APP Partner]

Hi Katepi

As Mims2014 says it is perfectly possible to have another baby after PP, many women have, and I hope you'll get other responses on here. I don't have personal experience of it, but I wanted to signpost you to some resources.

First of all we do have a guide for planning a pregnancy if you are at risk of PP. The guide is free to download from our website. It give you all the information you need about planning a pregnancy, including the chances of having PP again, and also ways to prevent becoming ill. You have about 50% chance of getting PP again, but the risk is individual to each person, and there are a lot of things you can do to prevent it such as looking at your personal triggers from your last episode, ensuring you have uninterrupted sleep (and someone else does night feeds), and taking preventative medication.

The link to the guide is here: app-network.org/what-is-pp/...

If you are thinking about a second child we would really recommend you get pre-conception advice from a perinatal psychiatrist. If there is a perinatal mental health team in your area you should ask to be referred to them for a pre-conception meeting. If that's not possible, and you live in the UK, you could ask to get advice about a second opinion psychiatrist service, where you would have a consultation with Dr Ian Jones. It is free to you and your funding health authority so there shouldn't be a financial barrier to you accessing it. The link to the service is here: app-network.org/what-is-pp/...

I hope this is helpful, and I wish you all the best with your decision, I know it's a hard one to make for us PP mums,

Ellie X

[Katepi in reply to Ellie_at_APP]

Thank u so much Elli-at-APP