Worry Wednesdays: My baby scratches themselves! Should I use mittens?

Many parents are worried about baby scratching themselves and therefore use mittens on their hands. Others worry about baby sucking hands and use mittens to prevent that. Many babies wear socks constantly because parents think that baby will feel cold. Many swaddle because they feel swaddling reduces startle reflex or because swaddling helps baby sleep longer.

However, swaddling or using mittens and socks is a very bad idea, developmentally speaking. I going to explain why in this article.
Swaddling, using mittens or socks on their feet reduces sensory input to the baby’s brain as their movements are restricted and their skin is not open to feel things.

Babies need to get lots and lots of sensory input from their bodies and especially from their palms which are richly supplied with touch receptors. When a young baby’s hands touches their body, the sensory input from the touch goes to their brains. Similarly, when a baby sucks their hands at about 6 to 8 weeks, the sensory input from the sucking goes to their brains. Similar sensory input goes to their brains when any part of the body moves or touches a surface.

Why is this sensory input very important? In a nutshell it helps build a sensory map of the body in the baby’s brain.

Somatosensory Cortex

There is an area in the brain called the somatosensory cortex which helps interpret all sensory inputs from any touch to the body, based on the virtual map. Early sensory input from movement and touch helps build this virtual map.

 

Sensory map of the body on the somatosensory cortex

Here is a picture which shows how the body is mapped on the somatosensory cortex.

 

One more important thing about sensory exploring is that baby learns which touch is safe and which is not. But preventing these early sensory inputs reduces the chance of baby learning what is safe or unsafe. This impacts all further activities like eating (baby does not know that bringing hands to mouth is safe) or writing (baby does not know whether touching a pencil is safe or not).

This is why swaddling and using mittens and socks in babies is not a good idea. To prevent scratches file babies nails. Don’t worry about baby’s feet being cold, all the sensory input will only help them, not harm.

Postpartum Depression: Check if you have PPD, Treatment Options and Dads with PPD

In this second part of my discussion about Postpartum depression, I will explain how to check if you have PPD, what you can do and if fathers also experience PPD. Read the first part here which explains what is PPD, risk factors and symptoms of it.

If you suspect that you have PPD the first step is to get evaluated by a professional (most probably a psychiatrist), who will them present you with treatment options. The sooner treatment starts, the better it is for both you and your family.

Do I have PPD?

The Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale is a simple 10 question rating scale that you can take to see if you are at risk for PPD. It DOES NOT diagnose PPD, it just tells you if you are at risk. Just select the answer that is the closest description to how you have felt in the last seven days. The scoring is very simple and instructions are attached to the scale. You can email us if you have any questions regarding scoring.
You can download and print the scale here.

Depending on how severe the symptoms are they may be classified as mild, moderate or severe, treatment depends on where you fall on this scale. It is very important to seek help, because PPD can be treated. And you can feel better.

So what can you do?

• Get professional help. Talk to your gynecologist and ask for a referral to a clinical psychologist and/or psychiatrist.
• Treatment for PPD is often a combination of antidepressants and talk therapy where you will learn coping strategies and skills that will help you manage depression.
• Talk about it, and ask for help from your partner, family and friends. PPD is not your fault, you are not ‘weak’ or a ‘bad mother’ for experiencing it. You need and deserve support.
• Find a relative or friend or hire someone to help you take care of your baby.
• Ensure you are getting enough rest, eating on time and enough sleep.
• Try to decrease responsibilities (eg: house hold work, responsibilities at work) as much as possible.

Can fathers develop PPD?

PPD is usually considered a “woman’s problem”, however recent research has found that fathers can also develop a version of PPD (as fathers also experience hormonal changes when new baby is born). One of the risk factors for paternal PPD is that their partner (mother of the baby) has developed PPD. Lack of social support, and excess stress also play a role. This emphasizes the need for social support, and the importance of paternity and maternity leave for new parents who need time to adjust to the arrival of a new baby.

The most important thing to remember about PPD is that it is a treatable condition. You are not alone, you are not weak and you are not to blame and you can survive it! It is important that you seek help early so that you can go back to your old self and be the mom you want to be.

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We would like to thank Lalitha Acharya for writing this post. Lalitha is mother to a 2 year old and a psychologist with a M.S in Clinical Psychology from the US. She has experience working with traumatized children and their families and running groups for individuals diagnosed with severe mental illnesses in both inpatient and out patient setting.

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References:

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5 (5th ed.)
Andrews-Fike, C. (1999). A Review of Postpartum Depression. Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1(1), 9–14.
Cox, J & Holden, J (2003). Perinatal mental health: A guide to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). London, England: Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Kim, P., & Swain, J. E. (2007). Sad Dads: Paternal Postpartum Depression. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 4(2), 35–47.
O’hara, M.W & Swain, A.M (1996). Rates and risks of postpartum depression- a meta –analysis . International Review of Psychiatry, 8:1 , 37-54

Webinar: Speaking of Speaking, Everything you wanted to know about your child’s speech

Webinar: Speaking of Speaking, Everything you wanted to know about your child’s speech

https://www.facebook.com/events/705602779574384/

Do you wonder if your child  is on track with speech development? Do you want to understand how to help your child’s speech development? For parents with children aged 0 to 2 years.

Speaker: Pallavi Sovani Kelkar

Date: September 12th

Time: 4 pm

Fees: INR 500

This session will be conducted as a webinar and live talk (in Pune). Registrations are mandatory via email. Please contact us at theyearlinghouse@gmail.com or +91 9833561861/ +91 7387097886

ONLY 7 seats open. First come, first serve. Contact us now.

Postpartum Depression (Part One): Introduction, Risk Factors and Symptoms

The birth of a child is supposed to be a joyful experience; images of the smiling new mother with a bundle of joy with teeny newborn feet and delicious newborn hands peeking out are everywhere. It is strange when the sadness hits you, you wonder “What is wrong with me?”, “Am I going crazy?”, you worry about hurting yourself or worst the baby!

What is Post Partum Depression (PPD) versus normal hormonal baby blues?

The ‘baby blues’ are surprisingly common, 50-70% of women report the blues. The main difference between the ‘baby blues’ and Post Partum Depression  is that of severity. The baby blues are considered normal, the symptoms are mild (they don’t get in the way of your day to day living) and pass with time. A lot of women experience some weepiness, anxiety, loneliness, forgetfulness and stress after the birth of baby, the symptoms should be gone within 2 weeks of delivery.

Post Partum Depression  is reported by 1 in 7 women, but is often ignored or missed. It is considered a serious mood disorder, and can appear days or months after the birth of your baby. Most women notice the symptoms 4 weeks after delivery, but some women recognize that something is wrong earlier and others might take much longer to recognize that they need help. So the symptoms might show anytime within the first year.

It is important that mothers seek professional help and get treatment for PPD, it does not ‘go away with time’ or with ‘me time’, or with exercise. Without treatment a woman might struggle with the symptoms of PPD for weeks, months or even years.

PPD does not discriminate, it can and does affect women across races, ethnicity, nationality, religion and socio-economic status. It can affect first time mothers and mothers who have had children before; women who had easy healthy pregnancies and those who had difficult stressful pregnancies.

 

What are the risk factors?

•  Previous diagnosis of depression or anxiety
• A family history of depression
• A change in hormonal levels due to child birth
• A high needs baby, who is colicky and difficult to comfort
•  Caring for a baby with special needs
• Emotional stressors like death in the family, family problems, financial difficulties, marital difficulties, difficulties in the work place, etc
• Isolation and lack of social support

The symptoms of PPD are:

• Feeling miserable and unhappy
• A feeling of pervasive sadness
• An irritable mood
• Feeling miserable and unhappy
• Loss of interest in things that you previously found pleasurable (for e.g. you may not interested in baby, family or friends)
• A change in appetite, eating too much or too little.
• Sleeping too much, or insomnia.
• Feeling of anxiety, an inability to sit still, or inability to motivate yourself to move. Others usually observe this.
• Fatigue, loss of energy
• Feeling worthless, guilty, blaming yourself.
• An inability to concentrate on anything, make any decisions
• Recurrent thoughts of hurting yourself or the baby (suicidal thoughts); and a fear of being left alone with the baby.

The symptoms of PPD cause a lot of distress, and come in the way of everyday living, including caring for your child. If the symptoms last longer than 2 weeks, seek professional help. If they are causing a lot of distress or you are having thoughts of hurting yourself or the baby seek help immediately and do not wait.

If you are concerned that you might have PPD do check the second part of the series on PPD here. It is also very important that you get evaluated for PPD, ask your gynecologists for a referral, remember that PPD is very much treatable, but it is important to address it and get treatment.

In the second part of this blog, I will talk about how to find out if you are at risk for PPD, treatment options and PPD for fathers.

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We would like to thank Lalitha Acharya for writing this post. Lalitha is mother to a 2 year old and a psychologist with a M.S in Clinical Psychology from the US. She has experience working with traumatized children and their families and running groups for individuals diagnosed with severe mental illnesses in both inpatient and out patient setting.