Video Transcription
How Ashlea dealt with postnatal anxiety and depression
I’m Ashlea, I’m 25 years old, and I’m a single parent to my two-year-old, Alfie. I live in Trinity Gardens, Adelaide. It’s just Alfie and I that are here.
I found out that I was going to be a parent just after I finished my degree, three weeks before my graduation. I guess it was good though because I wasn’t in the middle of a career or a job that needed my time; I could just go and have a baby. I was stressing about breastfeeding, and I had ideas about how it was going to be, thinking it was just going to be easy.
Breastfeeding is not easy. I struggled for the first month, and then after that, I had feelings of anxiety come up. I pushed through it, and I kind of regret doing that because I ended up not being okay. I think the best thing I did for myself was stop. I didn’t know that I had postnatal depression or anxiety until Alfie was four months old. Every time I was breastfeeding, I would say, “Do not touch me, do not talk to me,” and I was very dismissive. I was starting to feel a bit distant.
I ended up going to the doctor, and he was like, “It sounds like you’ve got postnatal anxiety and depression. We’re going to get you to see a counsellor, maybe put you on some medication, and see how you go with that.” I think for me, just knowing what was actually happening and not feeling disjointed really helped. And then, once I knew what was going on, it was a lot easier to overcome that.
For me, it’s just been all about eating healthy, being active, and getting out of the house most days. Do your research, but maybe stay off Google. Only go on government health sites because, otherwise, you can go down the rabbit hole and stress yourself out. Talking to other young parents, and once your child’s born, going to parent’s groups, mother’s groups, and just creating a community of people that you can ask questions. Ask your parents what they went through. Ask anyone who has a child. They don’t have to be a young parent, just talk to parents. Because someone will be able to give you that tiny little bit of advice that will save your sanity. Trust me, I’ve gotten some little tidbits here and there, and they’ve saved my sanity quite a lot.
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