2nd pregnancy

[Pinkbutter]

I’m looking to become pregnant with my second child, after experiencing a post partum psychosis with my first. And a later manic episode several months later. Even though I’ve got an action plan in place with my psychiatrist I’m starting to feel anxious about the risk of another psychosis. I also wanted to say how happy I am to have found this support network! It’s nice to have people that understand 💕 I’m hoping for some reassuring good news stories xx

[Jenny_at_APP Partner]

Hello Pinkbutter, welcome to the forum

I had PP in 2012 after my first son was born, completely out of the blue, no history of any mental illness. It took a while to decide whether to try for another child, it’s such a hard and personal decision isn’t it - the thought of going through it with an older child in the equation too makes it so much harder than just deciding whether two of you could deal with it again... Anyway, I had a consultation with Prof Ian Jones (via APP’s second opinion service), read lots on here, read the APP planning pregnancy guide (have you seen that? app-network.org/wp-content/... and finally decided to go for it.

I’m happy to say I had no recurrence of PP after my second son was born in 2016. I had really good support from family, friends and health professionals. I planned as much as I could then literally put those plans in a drawer. I reduced the risk factors that I could try and do something about - I opted to take a low dose of medication, sleep deprivation seemed to be a major factor for me so my mum and husband did the night feeds for the first few weeks, I chose not to try and breastfeed past the initial feeds... There’s no avoiding the fear of it all happening again, it was an anxious time! I don’t know if you were at risk of PP first time around but an important difference for me second time around was knowing the risk, it was all such a shock first time - what on Earth is puerperal psychosis?! You and those around you will be watching out for signs of you getting ill again (this in itself worried me quite a lot but it was ok!) and if PP did strike again hopefully you know what helped you first time and will have plans in place to get help quickly.

I have two beautiful, healthy, lively boys and am very glad that I was lucky enough to have a much more enjoyable first few weeks and months with my second baby

I hope this helps. Wishing you all the very best!

Jenny x

[Pinkbutter in reply to Jenny_at_APP]

Thank you Jenny for sharing your story, 💕 I’m glad to hear your second pregnancy was such a successful one! I had no idea about post partum psychosis with my first baby, so definitely knowing the risk factors second time around is reassuring. Can I ask did you do all feeds bottle feeds? I’ve been thinking whether to reduce my risk factor to bottle feed part of the time. Thanks for your help 💕

[Jenny_at_APP Partner in reply to Pinkbutter]

Hi Pinkbutter

Yes, after the first feeds I switched to formula (I breastfed in hospital and stopped when I came home and started my medication, so it was about 36 hours in the end). Breastfeeding became a real ‘thing’ for me leading up to my PP so I decided to just avoid it completely and not go down that road at all. I got very obsessed and it was a huge source of anxiety prior to my PP kicking in (which wasn’t immediately, it was about 3 weeks after the birth). I’m sure you’ll be able to get some good advice around feeding and the options so just think about what will work best for you Others being able to do some feeds, especially at night, is really helpful to ensure you can rest but you obviously don’t need to use formula to do that if you don’t want to.

Jenny x

[KA1234 Volunteer]

Hello Pinkbutter

Welcome to the forum.

I had PP in 2006 (with no previous mental health issues) and went on to have my 2nd child in 2011, luckily with no reoccurrance of PP.

Like yourself, I put together a very good care plan with the health of my perinatal psychiatrist/health visitor etc should I get ill again.

Not being able to breastfeed with my first baby played a big part in my illness, so I desperately wanted to be able to breastfeed with my 2nd, and sleep deprivation played a major part too. So I was advised by the perinatal psychiatrist to try a combination of bottle and breastfeeding.

In my care plan it was advised that I had my own room on the maternity ward, so I could get as much rest/sleep as possible. I had an elective c section and luckily was able to have my own room on the maternity ward, so I stayed in hospital for a week so I could lots of rest and lots of support from the midwives/breastfeeding support volunters. I also asked the midwives to take my daughter at night inbetween feeds, as I found it diffuicult to sleep when she was in the room. The midwives were very supportive with this, and brought her back as soon as was ready for another feed.

So for the first week I breastfed exclusively, then when I went home I breastfed in the day, then at night my husband would give a bottle of formula so I could get a decent stretch of sleep each night. This worked really well for us, and my baby had no problem taking both to the breast and bottle.

I was also advised to start taking 75mg sertraline upon delivery (which I took for 6 months) as a preventive measure, as it is safe to breastfeed on this medication.

Hope this may be of some help

Kelly

xxx

[Pinkbutter in reply to KA1234]

Thanks kelly! This was very helpful, I’ve been starting to think about combination feeding as part of my health care plan, glad to hear that it went so successfully for you . Thank you for sharing your story, it’s appreciated x

[boat1]

Had two babies after ppp no relapse. Rest v imp post baby. Help with night feeds. I had epidural planned to cut pain and stress. Medicine very important after especially . I had quetiapine to help rest low dose and lithium. Ask for separate room in hospital as part of care plan. Ask nurses for help. I have history of bipolar 1

[Pinkbutter in reply to boat1]

Thank you for sharing! Having two more babies would be a dream! So glad to hear things went so well for you 💕