Many persons see postpartum depression as a problem affecting just the mother. Unfortunately, this is not true. The whole family experiences relationship changes that affect family interactions considerably. Depressed moms who do not seek help frequently place their babies at risk for serious or fatal delays in growth and development.

The medical name for this complex condition is nonorganic failure to thrive. Nonorganic indicates that no physical cause for the baby's delays exists. As a result of the mother's postpartum depression, she frequently fails to care for the infant's physical and psychological requirements. Even though the infant may cry out for food at first, he or she usually gives up and quits interacting with other people. This condition may cause malnutrition, starvation, and even death.

Physicians use developmental charts to track a child's physical growth with respect to height, weight, and head size. If an infant is healthy at birth, his or her size will be within the normal values on the growth charts. If the infant begins to have serious developmental delays, the problem will appear when tracking his or her development with normal ranges. If the baby's progress is below the fifth percentile, physicians become worried.

Other symptoms often appear before the baby's growth problems reach this crisis stage. Most babies who grow at a normal rate are curious about their environment. In contrast, babies who fail to thrive show little or no interest in their environment. These infants typically do not make sounds or words; they have stopped attempting to respond to their caregivers.

How much of a problem is this condition? If untreated, a child may starve to death. Although the infant may get just enough nutrition to stay alive, his or her muscles, lungs, and mind cannot develop properly. Additionally, even when they do get help, these babies do not "catch up" completely. They frequently develop social problems or eating conditions, even when they finally start getting their needs met.

Babies who failure to thrive typically become gravely ill from malnutrition. They are often in the hospital for several weeks at a time. Sometimes, they get so weak that taking a bottle is exhausting. They receive nutrition via a tube inserted in the stomach, or even in their veins to receive food!

The most tragic component of this condition is that it is so preventable. If moms who have postpartum depression identify this problem at its onset, they are able to seek help and do not expose their fragile babies to these horrific complications. In fact, research has shown that ninety percent of those mothers who suffer from depression who get help will find healing!

A variety of approaches is useful in treating postpartum depression. Many physicians prescribe medicines like antidepressants. These drugs are expensive. They should also be avoided in nursing mothers. Moreover, antidepressants can cause suicidal thoughts; these medicines should be used with extreme caution.

Usually, physicians recommend counseling instead of or along with medicines. Counseling, however, can be expensive. In addition, it can be time-consuming, and many weeks may pass before this treatment is successful. Unfortunately, depending on the severity of the woman's depression, this may be too long for her baby. If the child begins to experience delayed growth, additional treatment may be required.

Fortunately, other non-medicinal treatment approaches can be used. Two revolutionary, beneficial methods that usually offer positive outcomes much faster than counseling, and are not nearly as dangerous as drugs, are Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and hypnotherapy for depression. NLP and hypnosis usually begin to work after even a single treatment. In addition, they are much less expensive than alternative methods.

Mothers who think they might have postpartum depression need to get help at once so that their babies are not at risk for critical growth delays. The severity of the consequences for the infant mandates that the treatment work quickly, and have a high rate of effectiveness. NLP and hypnotherapy for depression are inexpensive, begin to work almost immediately, and are extremely effective. This makes these two treatments perfect for helping women with postpartum depression.

Summary: Postpartum depression is depression that begins after childbirth. These new mothers are not able to give their infants the attention they must have to survive and grow. This results in failure to thrive, a serious, potentially deadly condition, affecting the baby. Mothers who suspect that they might have postpartum depression need to seek help immediately. Hypnotherapy and NLP for depression are inexpensive and are extremely effective.