Can Fathers Have Postpartum Depression?

As a father of twins, now teens, it seems every bodies experience is different. I was never depressed after our dual birth, partly because I was already so happy this was happening at this place in my life. Individual perception of the future, resources, opportunities, past experiences, optimism, connectedness, family support, pessimism, or any other social, financial, health, relational or environmental challenges that throw the unknown in our reality have a lot to do the emotional field of a new father or mom. My book #4015Days explores the commitment to parenting at the time children are most developmentally accepting of their parents, the first 4015 Days, or eleven years of life.

Becoming a parent is obviously a life altering experience. Why would anyone be doubtful that for a significant number of new parents, biological or foster/adoptive, it is a mind altering experience? It should be. You have to incorporate another person (sometimes more) into your consciousness and commit to productively keeping them there for the rest of your life. It is absolutely unbalancing for a time, and that is OK.

I read this article tonight as I held my four day old baby boy. He is our fifth child and I couldn't help but think back and compare to when our first child was born almost fourteen years ago. With the first, in the beginning, it felt like our lives had been forever altered (and not necessarily for the better). The sleep deprivation and initial breastfeeding issues felt insurmountable to me at times. I adored our baby but in hindsight, it was the single most difficult period of my life. For my husband too, it was a reality check and a major adjustment. This time around, however, even with the sleep deprivation and the breastfeeding issues (again?!), it all feels like such a gift. We are busier with five kids now and our house is more chaotic, of course. Yet, I am acutely aware that these days and are fleeting and will pass. This sweet baby will be a teenager in what will feel like the day after tomorrow. My husband gets it this time around too. He is there for me and our other children like never before, taking care of us all, cooking meals, showing vast patience with and playing with the kids. He is letting me focus on our newest family member and rest as much as possible. When I asked him this morning why this time he seemed so in tune with our needs, he chalked it up to maturity. Just knowing that the new baby phase is one out of the many phases ahead makes it so much more manageable.

It's interesting to see how many women in these comments (and even one in the article) actually seem angry that anyone would pay attention to the emotional health of new fathers. Parenthood is incredibly stressful, and though some women seem to think that we men go through no changes whatsoever, sleeping next to a growing baby and mother for 10 months, giving off all sorts of pheromones, has a noticeable impact on men, should you care to look. Not to mention the baby's own hormonal impact on dad after birth. Weight gain, lowered testosterone, and who knows what else. Wouldn't it be nice to know? I never had depression, but I sure knew something was going on. And I was also aware that I was not on any doctor's radar screen and got no counseling or help. Too bad for the fathers who actually go through depression. There are few social support structures for fathers either. Women still ring-fence parenthood, especially the early years. There are mommy social groups, mommy support groups, mommy webpages, mommy and me yoga. Baby shops cater almost exclusively to moms, there is little research on fatherhood, and when dads do ask for help, they are asked "what are you complaining about? You didn't carry a baby for 10 months." Isolation, loneliness, helplessness, sleeplessness, along with feeling that you can't complain because she had it much worse, combined with a completely dependent new life and financial stress- is it any wonder new fathers get depressed?

As the article notes we still don't really know the cause of most cases of postpartum depression in women so to say it can't also occur in men is foolish. In medicine we have a tendency to implicate hormonal changes in every condition that occurs more frequently in women than men such as migraine headaches even with only limited evidence. It is interesting that The Times, which spares no effort to ballyhoo anybody talking about being harmed by psychiatric medications or not being helped by them and how psychiatrists prescribe these medications because they are in the pocket of big pharma, buries deep in the story how Rob Sandler was helped by his interaction with a psychiatrist and medication.

Well known impact, at least amongst those of us who are fathers. Of course it exists.

Please correct one word in my contribution just published . Replace www.walshinstitite.org with www.walshinstitute.org. Thank you

The main cause of post-natal depression appears to be related to the metal copper. It is essential for about 20 brain chemical reactions.During pregnancy copper doubles towards the end. It may be used in making blood vessels in the baby. Copper normally drops quickly after delivery and if it does not expect post-natal depression and occasionally post-natal psychosis. Copper and zinc go through the same bowel wall entrance so zinc can speed up recovery as well as using standard medication.. By the way copper beyond its normal level is involved in anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, and paranoid schizophrenia. See www.walshinstitite.org and www.biobalance.org.au.

While there well may be physiological changes that affect new fathers' mental health, I believe that societal conditions probably influence behavior and mental conditions as well. Our society, although having progressed significantly in the last two generations regarding roles of men and fathers, still attributes what may be unrealistic characteristics to men and dads. New baby in the house, and bingo! There is another human to protect, provide for, guide...and added to this, the guy faces a wife who is not particularly interested in sex for a while, he is no longer the be-all-end-all of her existence. And there is fear. What if he fails? What if he loses his job? What if, what if, what if? We are moving toward "allowing" men to have doubts and feel insecure, but generally our society still worships the "strong" man image -- how many gyms are in your neighborhood? While the role of women has become more demanding - bring home the bacon AND change the diapers - the role for men has been in a state of flux as well. Throw the responsibility of an infant into the mix, and men don't know how to handle it. Mommies' groups abound, but I'll bet there are very few places that men have an outlet that isn't threatening to their sense of self where they can air their fears.

Drop in testosterone seems very natural to me - an aggressive, hyper active, sexual dad is not the need at this time. You want a mellow, nurturing man who can work with mother in caring for the baby. Assuming monogamous relationship, a dad wanting to have sex with the new mother is also a bad idea because she will not be ready for anywhere from weeks to months for it, mentally and physically. Having good reliable support is extremely crucial during these times and American society is not built for it. In addition to changing hormones and more responsibilities this is a big factor.

I thought after all this time that seeing the connection between thoughts, moods and hormones would be a non-starter. Apparently, I was wrong. Hormones change thinking, and thinking changes hormonal activity. Has the research of the last 25 years gone unnoticed by these researchers? Or is the reason that it is very difficult to study the interplay between the mind and the body, and they are each conducting their own "elephant and the six blind men" experiments? Men's lives change when babies are born, in ways that they don't expect and in ways that they may not have enough support of all kinds to handle. From lack of sleep and sex, to a sense of responsibility and reflection on their own childhoods. I wish every new father a "daddy doula" to navigate these waters!

It does happen to men too. I was "out of it" for weeks after the birth of my first child. It's a life-changing moment, but 9 months later, I'm having a blast.

I think what causes this for males is the "oh my this is really real and really happening" feeling that comes when the baby is actually there.Most women already feel very connected to their baby before the birth but for many men it takes the moment of holding the baby in their arms to make it real. And having a baby is super scary. You are now fully responsible for this little person and most of us who consider ourselves even a bit intellectual think ohmygodhowamigoingtodothisright and freak out a bit. In today's world, we are often alone with no extended family around to help (not how humans evolved) and the medical care stinks -- there are no daily visits from midwives like there are e.g. in Germany (mandated by law to being covered by insurance). I would be curious to know the incidence of first kid versus second-- I would think for a male, it would decrease. And I think it shouldn't really be compared to post-partum depression for women. Getting pregnant, giving birth, and the time after is a crazy hormone rollercoaster total physical changes all the feelings of how to "do it right" that it is just in a class of its own.

A man NOT having a panic attack at witnessing his first bris would be more concerning. Anxiety is more commonly a normal reaction to stress - must it be labeled as pathology ?

Curious that this article was highlighted to me by email from the Times when the much more telling article about how more men now have oral cancer from HPV than women have cervical cancer from HPV, never made its way to my inbox.

This article should not call postpartum depression the "baby blues." They are not the same thing and equating them invalidates postpartum depression as a clinical diagnosis that needs to be treated. The "baby blues" are entirely normal, can go away with time, and usually without intervention. PPD, however, often requires medication and/or therapy. The differences are widely researched and published.

I don't know about this. For this relatively new father, there was just an initial coming to grips with my new reality (less time and more responsibility) and identity that was not entirely pleasant, but I wouldn't call it Postpartum Depression with the implied hormonal component. I think it was simply a rational response to a new, different and in many ways less enjoyable daily reality than existed before. The costs of having children are apparent immediately but (for me at least) the benefits took time to reveal themselves. Now my oldest is 2 and my youngest is 4 months and I'm very happy - especially now that we've figured out how to manage things much better and I've adjusted to and enjoy my new identity as Daddy.

Male or non-bio parental depression after baby is born- totally valid. And worth discussing. Co-opting "postpartum depression" as a male thing- please. It's different. Because men don't spent 10 months (yes- 40 weeks is 10 months) having their bodies taken over by another life, followed by many hours (if not days) being racked with pain and trying to pop it out of a bodily orifice normally the circumference of their precious penises. Only to experience (and have to work and caretake and recover from) a sudden immersion in a hormone cocktail that would leave most sane people looking for the nearest revolver. While their breasts leak. Sorry, you gotta do better writing headlines.

Having a baby is the most selfless act anyone can do; your life is truly given over to the care and nurturing of your baby. The arrival of this little bundle of joy obviously creates stressors in the parents’ lives: sleep deprivation, 2 AM feedings, anxiety over how to care for your baby, new dynamics for your marriage, to name a few. But focusing on a male depressive response post partum is NOT what women need as they recover from their pregnancies. WOMEN’S bodies are on hormonal rollercoasters amplifying every event in their and their babies’ lives. As the babies’ primary caregivers (typically), women must learn to juggle the baby’s life with the rest of the family, nurse on demand, and somehow maintain the rest of the household’s functions. And if they so choose, women must then figure out how to return to work, often breast pump in tow, and give 100% to both family and career. True post partum depression belongs to women, not men. Before we start spending time and money on a male counterpart, let’s first do due diligence to the women on the front line - mandate maternity healthcare (including mental healthcare) in insurance plans, train doctors to recognize signs that a mother is struggling (my own went undiagnosed and untreated), increase research into new ways to help and treat struggling new moms, and educate women on its signs and symptoms. We all enter motherhood believing in a fairytale pregnancy, birth, and happily ever after. Let’s ensure that for all women.

My husband and I had our son over two years ago. I was in the hospital for 3 weeks due to hypertension. We delivered him at 7 months. He was in NICU for 4 more weeks. I thought all the trauma at beginning was going to get better. Slowly my son got stronger and bigger! He is very active and healthy child now. My husband though had a more difficult time. The commute to and from work for weeks took its toll. He would not interact with the baby. He hold him and feed him and change him. My husband though lack interest in our relationship and our son. For months, he was very distant and different. Six months later my husband starting getting seizures, he has epilepsy now. Our little family had a difficult year in 2015, I thought my husband would get through it but that proved to being the tipping point. After year of therapy for me and lots of long conversations with my husband, he is back to his old self. I was totally overwhelmed by my husband and his depression. He had postpartum depression. He was more overwhelmed by the baby than me. But he is doing well now! He is even decided to switch careers from science to teaching this upcoming year. I couldn’t be more proud as his wife and follow teacher. Our son changed him more deeply that I could understand because we both worked through it and I held him accountable and we had amazing support system from my parents. My husband is amazing person and father.

“But the process of birthing and the hormonal gymnastics that women experience is on a different planet.” When it comes to depression in dads versus moms, “I see them as utterly apples and oranges,” she said. LOL. Men dare not tread on sacred ground.

Oh please! I used to say to my husband “the day I die you’ll say you were sicker”! Men.

I find it refreshing to shine a light on the father's experience in the transition to parenthood. I think in many cases there is so much focus (appropriately so) on mother and baby that the needs of fathers are not addressed or even voiced. It would be beneficial to all to expand our view and support systems to include the needs of fathers in the postpartum/early childhood years too.

Yes....most definitely. ...I wondered how our marriage would survive...but time healed and sadness melted away...not enough is discussed about this important and real phenomenon

I must say after my first son was born I kept having these moments where I would need to go outside alone and just cry. I could not figure out what was wrong with me. Prior to my first son being born, the last time I cried was when I found out my dad wasn’t killed on 9/11 (he had a meeting midtown thank god). I didn’t even cry when my son was born. I was just happy and excited. But for several days after I kept breaking down out of nowhere. I googled it (seemed for some reason the logical thing to do) but I really didn’t find anything. I was really the first of my friends to have a kid so even though I was asking, no one knew. A week or so in it all passed and like magic it was gone. When my second son was born it didn’t happen at all. I don’t know what happened or what to call it but it was nerve racking thinking I was losing my mind for a minute there. I wonder if this experience I had is one other men have had.

And----can adoptive parents of either gender also develop post-partum depression? Yes, of course!

I am sure that some men experience depression after the birth of a child, but to call it postpartum depression on par with what some women experience is ridiculous. It falls along the lines of male menopause and monthly cycles.

People love blaming hormones - particularly women's hormones - on everything. But when will our society accept that having a baby can be, indeed, a VERY depressing event? You bring home this baby - you feel awful (even more so if you've had a C-section), you get no sleep, breast feeding might hurt, you are worried about your job, you're worried about day care, you're worried about your sex life, if you have other children you can't figure out how to take care of them too, no one helps you or supports you in any significant way - and God forbid you have a colicky baby! Many parents are also struggling with the costs of the health care. And maybe the worst thing - too many moms suddenly realize that it's only THEIR lives that have been turned upside down - everyone (including dad) is just going about their merry way. Until we figure out how to genuinely support families we're going to have some very depressed parents!

I did. Nothing other than her mattered at all. Work, play, nothing mattered except this beautiful baby girl. I lost all interest in daily function.

Yes, of course. Some can't face the weight of responsibility, some hate the physical changes in their partner's bodies, attentions...

If the realization that as a father you have to be a responsible person, that lack of sleep will ensue along with new financial burdens, that the partying is over, then fathers will certainly experience a form of post-partum depression.

Depression? Sure. It's because men now have to compete with an infant for their wife's time and attention. No one talks about it, but it's real.

This suggests a dire need for a baby nurse/attendant/helper/nanny whatever such a person is called for three to six months during which time the "ssick" parent(s) are in a depressed state. Many parents could benefit from some kind of help -- night feedings, meal making and housework from someone who was live-in with irregular hours and willing to wake up at night. It's not so awful if you aren't stressed about having a job or too much to do the next day.) A job that cannot be done by a robot. I also wonder about "spanking and reading to" a creature that cannot support its own head. HuH?

Turning on the lights at night when getting up to care for a baby can suppress the flow of the sleep hormone melatonin disrupting the circadian (internal) clock of parents which, along with sleep deprivation, may result in depression, according to this PubMed article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19329259 This Harvard Health Letter suggests a few remedies including using "dim red lights for night lights. Red light has the least power to shift circadian rhythm and suppress melatonin.": https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-sid... Perhaps hospitals should consider giving nightlights with red bulbs to new parents.

Two theories: New parents are naturally depressed because they realize that they have given their lives and freedom in service to to a child. They are depressed because they have a "Peggy Lee moment".... Is that all there is?

This makes me angry. Men have no claim to postpartum depression, due to hormone imbalance and the physical & mental strain of pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, etc. Once men figure out how to gestate, give birth and nurse, THEN they can claim post-partum depression. What a bunch of snowflakes. Geez... I do acknowledge that both parents are sleep-deprived & stressed but this is nothing close (mentally or physically) to post-partum blues. There’s no doubt which sex is the toughest, men really couldn’t handle motherhood.

Yep. And it lasts until you send the kid off to college.

Sleep deprivation?

Has postpartum depression been compared in mothers/fathers who do or don't continue working? My husband and I both had a brief eye-opening experience when our 3-week old daughter screamed throughout a weeklong visit with friends: we both thought, "This is the end of our lives." But because we were both able to continue working throughout her infancy and childhood, the work part of our lives remained stable and comforting -- at least that part hadn't ended. Same with our second child. We would sacrifice anything for our (now adult) children, but during the uncertainty of new parents dealing with a newborn child, working helped to give us a stable foundation, and the outside focus of work helped to stave off the shock of realizing that life would never again be the same.

Do we need to scramble to come up with a hormonal explanation to "[bring] greater medical legitimacy to the diagnosis"? Having a baby is like the perfect storm to create depression. Sleep deprivation, financial stresses, loss of self-identity, loss of interpersonal connections, loss of free time. Certainly, hormones are involved. But especially in the case of fathers, it may be that the depression comes first and alters hormone levels, and not the other way around.

Wait... Depressed new fathers are more likely to spank their children? The timing of the postpartum period implies that said children are babies - newborns! - so does that mean depressed men are beating newborn babies?!?

I think modern life is partly to blame . When extended family was nearby, when young parents had the support of young grandparents and other relatives, and when life was simpler and less technologically dependent, maybe these responses were less common. However, I'm sure it's complex and multifactorial. This is an interesting article and I hope it leads to recognition of the stresses and changes in new parents, both men and women, whether partnered or single.

There is a BIG difference between postpartum depression (PPD), which is characterized as clinical depression and depressive symptoms in the postpartum period. While large scale epidemiological studies demonstrate the rate of clinical depression in the postpartum (PPD) occurs at approximately 0.6% (see, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/da.22597/full), depressive symptoms in the postpartum on the other-hand occur between 9-15%. As Dr. Brody suggests, the postpartum period is time of acute stress for most, if not all new parents, and depressive SYMPTOMS would be expected, but symptoms are different from ICD-10 characterized DEPRESSION. Indeed, research has shown the rates of clinically relevant paternal depression in the postpartum appears to be even lower than that in women.