What Every New Mom Should Know About Postpartum Mood Changes
Pregnancy Podcast
Vanessa Merten
4.5 • 970 Ratings
🗓️ 15 February 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many expecting mothers skip past information about postpartum mood changes, assuming it won't apply to them. Especially when they're anticipating one of life's happiest moments and have no history of depression. But baby blues and postpartum depression are common complications of birth that deserve attention during pregnancy, not after symptoms appear. The statistics are striking: baby blues affect 50-80% of new mothers, while one in seven experiences postpartum depression. Research also shows postpartum depression rates have been climbing over recent decades, making this information more relevant than ever. This episode covers how to identify symptoms of baby blues versus postpartum depression, where and how to get help, and evidence-based strategies you can use to protect your mental health during the postpartum period. Whether you have a history of depression or not, understanding these conditions empowers you to recognize warning signs early and take action when it matters most.
Full article and resources for this episode: https://pregnancypodcast.com/babyblues/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the pregnancy podcast with Vanessa Merton. |
| 0:10.4 | Hello, thank you for tuning into the pregnancy podcast. In today's episode, we're talking about |
| 0:17.8 | protecting your mental health and talking about the baby blues and postpartum |
| 0:22.6 | depression. Now, before you skip right over this episode, I know that as soon as most expecting |
| 0:29.1 | moms hear the words postpartum depression, they're going to tune out and skip right over this topic. |
| 0:35.8 | If you have never experienced depression, this is the last thing you think you need to know about, |
| 0:41.8 | especially at a time in your life when you expect to be the happiest. |
| 0:46.3 | Baby blues and postpartum depression are a complication of birth. |
| 0:51.0 | And before you think that this could affect you, the baby blues are estimated to occur in about |
| 0:56.5 | 50% or more of new mothers. Some studies even show a higher prevalence at nearly 80%. One in seven moms will |
| 1:06.6 | experience postpartum depression. And 40% of those will have an onset after birth. So that means that |
| 1:14.2 | they didn't have depression before that. Over the last few decades, there's research showing that |
| 1:20.1 | the number of new moms who get postpartum depression is increasing. So in this episode, |
| 1:26.0 | we're going to talk about the symptoms of the baby blues |
| 1:28.6 | and postpartum depression, how to get help and how to protect your mental health postpartum. |
| 1:35.1 | This is a very important episode. If you want to blow through this episode at two times speed, |
| 1:41.1 | you can do that. You can also skim through the article for this episode on |
| 1:45.6 | the website if you'd rather just skim through and read it. I urge you to not skip over this topic. |
| 1:52.7 | You can find the complete article, all of the resources for this episode at Pregnancypodcast.com |
| 2:00.4 | slash baby blues. You are on the public feed of the podcast. Get |
| 2:06.3 | ad-free access to every single episode when you become a pregnancy podcast premium member. |
| 2:14.1 | That includes hundreds of episodes with evidence-based information that you won't find |
... |
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