If you feel blue after you’ve had baby, even if you feel like you can’t go on and have begun to resent your baby, you’re not alone. Many new mothers go through postpartum depression. For your sake and your baby’s, learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of postpartum depression and, if you think you may be experiencing it, call your doctor or mental health professional. They can give you advice and help needed to get through this difficult time. Here are the major signs of postpartum depression:

• Loss of appetite: When you have just had a baby, your body needs more nourishment, not less. This is especially true if you are breast feeding. If you find that you just don’t want to eat much for several days, you have one of the major signs of postpartum depression.
• Can’t sleep: on some level, a lack of sleep comes with having a baby. Your baby will be up every couple of hours needing your attention. SO, when baby is asleep, you should be able to sleep, too. If you can’t sleep, even when you’re tired and baby is asleep, it presents a problem.
• Irritability and Anger: on some level, these come with lack of sleep, and everybody gets mad once in a while. But, if your irritability is extreme or constant, it could be a sign of a problem.
• Lack of happiness: this should be one of the happiest times of your life. If it isn’t, and you just have no joy at all, consider calling your doctor.
• No interest in sex: If your libido has gone out the window, it may be a symptom of PPD.
• Feeling guilty, ashamed, or unworthy: We all feel this way a little at times. Having a baby who needs us is a humbling experience. But, if it’s interfering with your day to day life, it’s time to get help.
• Severe Moodiness: Again, the key word is severe. Everyone gets moody, but if your moodiness is beginning to look bipolar, it could be time to seek help.
• Loss of interest or bonding with baby: A mother’s bond with her child is a very natural thing. If you’re just not feeling it, it could be PPD, and if so, there is help available.
• Thoughts of harming your baby or yourself: If you’re feeling this way, even a little bit, even for a little while, reach out and get some help, even if you’re not experiencing any other symptoms. These kinds of feelings are not something to take lightly.

With the exception of the desire to hurt yourself or the baby, these symptoms often show up in mild form for a few days at a time. Often called the “baby blues”, this isn’t usually anything to worry about. If it persists or becomes severe, call your doctor.

Some babies and toddlers develop an aversion to having anything placed in their mouths. This is especially common amongst babies who have received medication or ventilation through a tube, though it sometimes crops up without any obvious reason.

Oral defensiveness generally shows itself with a baby’s refusal to take the breast or bottle, and an aversion to having anything else in her mouth. It is believed that the reason many babies (especially those who have been treated with ventilators or Naso-gastric tubes) develop oral defensiveness is because they experience a sensation like choking when anything is placed inside their mouths.

If your baby shows signs of oral defensiveness, or refuses to take anything into her mouth for an extended period of time, missing more than one feeding, consult your doctor. There are several therapies she may suggest to help your baby start eating properly again.

One thing you can try yourself if your baby is refusing to take the bottle or the breast is to simply hold your baby close, preferably with skin to skin contact, and offer the breast or bottle. Don’t force the issue; the last thing you want to do is to compound the problem by making feeding more unpleasant for your baby than it already is. In most cases, your baby’s hunger will overcome her hesitance to put anything in her mouth and she will eat. When she does, do whatever you can to make it a pleasant experience for her.

When you do consult your doctor, she might recommend a feeding therapist. In most cases, these therapists will work with you and your baby to help your baby realize that the bottle or breast is not something to be afraid of, but something to receive nourishment from.

One of the things babies and toddlers with oral defensiveness often do is spit milk or formula out or vomit rather than swallowing. A therapist will work with you and your baby to help her figure out that if she swallows, she won’t have the unpleasant feelings she is experiencing from having something in her mouth. The goal is to help baby start to view oral feeding as pleasant again. In most cases, it doesn’t take long before your baby will gradually start feeding for longer periods of time again.

As parents, we naturally wonder about when our babies are going to hit certain developmental milestones. In addition, we’re anxious to get to the point where our babies can communicate their needs, perform certain actions like feeding themselves and more. Each new skill that your baby learns is like a gift. Whether you’re talking about learning to crawl, developing fine motor skills, learning certain words or another type of milestone, every time your baby reaches one it is a time for celebration.

One of the milestones that parents often look forward to is sitting up. Some parents may worry if their baby isn’t sitting up after a few months. For the most part, your baby is going to work toward those developmental milestones at his own pace. If he doesn’t reach them as soon as another baby, it doesn’t mean he’s delayed. It just means that he’s not quite ready to start performing that particular task.

You need to communicate your concerns to your doctor when it comes to developmental milestones. For example, your doctor isn’t likely to be too worried if your baby is not yet sitting up at four months of age. Still, if your baby isn’t sitting up by about seven months of age, your doctor may want to do some developmental testing just to make sure that there’s not something preventing her from learning to sit up the way that she should.

There are many things that could interfere with your baby’s ability to sit up. There could be cognitive delays that make it so your baby doesn’t yet grasp the concept. There could be physical problems where moving into that position is painful, although there would likely be other signs if that were the case. It could even be that your baby just has a problem with muscle control and can’t yet make those muscles work in order to sit up.

There are a few things that you can do to help encourage your child to start to try to sit up. You can help him up, supporting him with your hands at first. Ultimately, however, your baby isn’t going to sit up until he is ready. For many parents, it’s a matter of waiting until that happens.