Many new mothers suffer from 'baby blues' after the birth of a child, in fact the number of women suffering has been reported as up to 80% of new mothers.
Given the huge change in hormones that occurs after giving birth this should really come as no surprise.
However, there is a big difference between having the baby blues and having postpartum depression.
Firstly, ask yourself how long this has been going on.
This is a key factor as most symptoms of baby blues stop after about 2-3 weeks when the hormones in the body start getting back to normal.
If your symptoms go on much longer than this (typically for months), then you need to address the situation.
Typical symptoms of postpartum depression are sudden bouts of crying, feelings of worthlessness, feeling that you may harm yourself or your baby, not feeling that you are connecting with your baby and just feeling out of control.
If some or all of these symptoms ring a bell with you then you really need to seek some help for the condition.
There are many places that you can seek help and the first stop is often to go and see your doctor.
There is medication that you can take if you wish.
However, you should be aware that if you are breastfeeding, any medication that you are taking will enter your breast milk.
There are also other remedies that can help you depending on the severity of your condition.
In any case, make sure you take up offers of help from friends and family, get as much sleep as you can and try and avoid alcohol as this can affect your mood swings.
As with a lot of health problems, it can often be beneficial to connect with fellow sufferers who can understand what you are going through so the message is to reach out to people for help and not to suffer in silence.