The first weeks after a baby arrives can feel tender and exhausting. Baby blues are common and often ease within two weeks. Postpartum depression and anxiety are different. Sadness, worry, or emptiness that stays severe or lasts longer may need a closer look. Symptoms can also begin in pregnancy or later in the first year. Dr. Ijeoma Mbionwu, DNP, PMHNP-BC, listens before any plan is discussed.
A heavy or empty mood may stay most of the day, even when the baby is well.
Thoughts about the baby's health or safety may circle and be hard to set down.
Sleep can stay broken even when the baby is resting. Falling back asleep may not come.
Small moments may spark a sharp reaction. The body can stay tight between feeds and naps.
Food, visits, or things that used to matter may feel flat or far away.
Connection with the baby may feel distant. That does not mean you are a bad parent.
Feeds, diapers, and soothing can feel overwhelming when worry or sadness will not lift.
Patience with a partner or family may run short. Asking for help can also feel hard.
Broken nights and constant alertness can leave the next feed feeling harder than the last.
Showers, meals, and simple errands may slip while the day is built around the baby.
When sadness or worry starts shaping feeds, sleep, and the rest of the day, it helps to look closer. A short stretch of tears in the first two weeks is common. Symptoms that stay heavy, or include panic, hopelessness, or trouble caring for yourself, are a reason to talk. Confusion, or seeing or hearing things others do not, needs urgent help. Call 911. A video visit can be easier than leaving home with a newborn. Low mood that lasts can also overlap with depression.nimh.
Care looks at the whole person: sleep, stress, relationships, physical health, other conditions, and goals. The plan is personalized and evidence-based, from a board-certified PMHNP, in Orlando or by telehealth across Florida. A video visit can fit a newborn’s day.
A visit reviews mood, worry, sleep, health, feeding, and what the days feel like now.
If you are breastfeeding, medicine choices are discussed with feeding in mind.
Talking through worry, guilt, and the strain of new parenthood may sit alongside other care.
Later visits leave room for feeding changes, questions, and how the week is going.
The visit starts with your story: mood, sleep, feeding, health, and what feels hardest.
From there, you and your provider discuss options that fit your needs and daily responsibilities.
Follow-up visits leave room for questions, side effects, and changes in how the week is going.
If you have not felt like yourself since the baby arrived, Schedule Your Appointment or Call 407-616-1691. Visits are in Orlando or by telehealth across Florida. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 or call 911.
Getting started with StarMaris is simple. Please complete the forms below before your first appointment to help us provide timely, personalized psychiatric care. Referring providers can submit patient referrals securely online. For questions, call us at 407-616-1691.