Over the years, I have heard from many women whose postpartum experiences were just fine until they stopped breastfeeding. It is rare, however, for me to find any research on the topic of depression after weaning, or a personal story about it. So I was happy to see this story from the blog A Cup of Jo, written by Joanna Goddard, about the depression she experienced at 8 months postpartum after weaning.
Here’s a bit of her story after she realized why she was suffering:
In late January, I had decided to wean Toby from breastfeeding for a number of reasons, so I quite abruptly weaned him within a week. But instead of feeling liberated, I began feeling tired and sad and went into a downward spiral. The timing of the beginning of my depression (weaning Toby) and the end of my depression (getting my period again) lined up perfectly.
I hate that she was only able to find a few stories on this, because you know we like to cover all issues related to depression and anxiety and pregnancy and childbirth here on Postpartum Progress. So, if you experienced weaning after depression, send me your story and we may be able to feature it here. Let’s make sure the moms who go through this have the information they need and don’t feel alone.
About Katherine Stone
Me too! With my first son when he weaned at 1 year I noticed a considerable increase in irritability, mood swings, self-critical thinking.
Everything he did seemed to piss me off, instead of just be cute and maybe annoying. It seems like he was into everything and every ‘bad’ behavior was a clear indication of a future of a non-functional member of society. I started reliving the trauma surrounding his birth more and more frequently, almost obsessively.
While I haven’t yet weaned my DD (she’s just 3), I had my worst depression when she turned 1 and my period returned consistently. I also had a couple bad spells at 3 months and about 7 months when I had some periods, with a dip in breastfeeding frequency at the 3 month mark for sure. At 1 is when we started doing solids first at meals, and it took until age 2 and some big changes for things to level out.
I wish there was more research and education on this issue. I still feel crazy for talking about how my ppd didn’t really kick in until I had to wean my baby abruptly at 8 months. I had been ‘getting by’ mood wise for about 4 months – sort of hanging on by a thread – but stopping breastfeeding sent me down a rat hole from which it has taken more than a year to recover.
I weaned my daughter relatively abruptly at 7 months. As well I had been taking a high dose of domperidone to help with my milk supply since her birth. I stopped these meds cold turkey. And then whammo, my anxiety went through the roof. I had had a rough first three months with her, but then things got better. But then my anxiety started increasing and my sleeplessness at night increased. But I truly believe stopping breastfeeding and stopping the domperidone triggered my severe anxiety. I am now on meds and in therapy and am starting to feel better. Its a hard road though. I thought I was a freak being diagnosed with PPA at 7 months.
I had the same problem with my first child at 6 months when I weaned her and am facing the same challenge right now as my 10 month old son transitions to more solid foods (baby-led weaning). I would be more than happy to share in a guest post. Please just let me know which details you all are most interested in. Thank you so much for posting on this subject today!
I talk to a lot of moms about the issue of depression and must of them tell me that these problems exist due to the amount of stress that they experience throughout the day.
I started out with a significant case of PTSD and postpartum depression and anxiety a few weeks after my son’s birth. However when I weaned my son at 6 months to start new meds, I developed severe cyclical depressions that coincided with my menstral cycle. He is two years old now and I am still struggling despite a lot of hard work on every front. Luckily the depressions have not been as severe since Oct when I was fortunate to have an overhaul in medications. It turned out that lithium works as a better anti-depressant for me.
I experienced this as well. Looking back, almost 3 years later, and knowing what I know about PPD/A now, I realize I had PPD from the start, but once my daughter decreased her rate of feedings @ 6months was when my depression switched from mind numbing fatigue and wanting to sleep all the time to severe anxiety and not being able to sleep for days on end and intrusive thoughts. It was when the anxiety became unbearable that I sought professional help and finally received PPD dx a year after my daughter was born. I finally found a counselor that specialized in women’s mental health and she strongly felt that decreasing nursing and eventually weaning did make things worse. Reason being is that nursing releases “feel good” chemicals in the brain. This kept me feeling somewhat “normal.” My daughter nursed round the clock for several months and when I wasn’t w/ her I pumped consistently. Once her frequency dropped and my brain wasn’t getting those good chemicals, the bottom dropped out.
Something in Joanna’s post really struck a cord. Her post was beautifully written and, like you Katherine, she was able to describe her experience so eloquently.
I’m a 2nd time PPA/D fighter. First time around I was in ‘too deep’ to be able to attribute it to any one particular thing or time period. However this time around I strongly believe the hormonal swing associated with weaning and subsequent return of menstural cycle led to a huge crash around 6-9 months. I am still working on putting the pieces together & making sense of it all… but I believe that as my milk production reduced, my symptoms spiralled. I agree with another post that likened it to severe cyclical depressions that coincided with my menstral cycle. The reproductive mental health specialist I see acknowledges that women can feel like everything comes crashing down as their cycle starts again. And the pacific postpartum support society, here in BC, specifically mentions this in their self help guide for mothers. I hope it is ok to quote them!! “For some women the hormonal shift associated with stopping breastfeeding can bring on or increase the symptoms of depression”.
You are right that there are not enough stories about this out there. Thank you so much for your website, and your continual passion in exploring these issues. No one knows this beast as well as the women who have suffered it.
I think I developed some of my first signs of PPD or anxiety when my first child night-weaned at about 11 months old (this was 4 years ago). It was the first time in my life I’d ever felt that out of control and horrible. I visited several doctors looking for answers (thyroid, iron, etc.) and they all told me I was just really tired and needed to sleep. Right, thanks for that helpful info.
Now, I have a 20-month-old and I am considering weaning him because my hormones are still out of control and I still feel like a crazy person. Again, after seeking the help of many doctors and not getting much help, I’m wondering if I weaned him my body would have a chance to go back to “normal.” After reading this and thinking through it, now I’m concerned it’ll get worse before it gets better.
That is EXACTLY what happened to me – TWICE. (Except for the period part… I was menstruating at 6 weeks postpartum both times… so that had nothing to do with my PPD) I weaned both my sons at about 8 months, and that is when my most obvious PPD symptoms started. The main symptom for me, however, was rage – so I didn’t attribute it to PPD at first. It actually frustrates me that people think it “must be something else” if it didn’t start within the first few weeks – and also if you’re not ‘sad’ all the time. So much mis-information floating around out there.
You can read part of my story here: http://robinsrandomrambles.blogspot.com/2011/09/story.html
Hi I just found another blog from a woman that went through the same thing
http://mylittlemaisie.blogspot.com/2011/12/post-partum-depression-after-weaning.html
Of note I posted earlier about my ppd becoming cyclical with the return of my menstral cycles after weaning. I was started on a combination of lithium and birth control (i don’t take the “reminder pills” but go strait to a new pack) so that I have a steady, consistant stream of hormones in my system. I am an older mom, 42, so I thought age and the posibility of entering perimenapause could be a contributing factor. My team of doctors at a research/teaching hospital said they see alot of ppd and pmdd but usually not such severe cases of a combination of both. I am saddened to read about the suffering and struggles of so many other moms but it brings me comfort and hope to read your stories and know I am not alone.
Article on the Huffington Post today about this, mentions several blogs and a research study.
Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/26/weaning-depression-link-breastfeeding-postpartum-depression_n_1301233.html?icid=maing-grid7|main5|dl18|sec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D138900
The research mentioned in the Huffington Post was not about depression after weaning, but about how depression is or isn’t related to breastfeeding — in other words are women who are unsuccessful at breastfeeding more likely to have PPD. What we really need is a study specifically on weaning.