After Little Ferry baby was killed, renewed focus on postpartum depression – NorthJersey.com

Not long ago, women who had trouble bonding with their babies were told the feeling would pass.

Some had frightening thoughts about smothering their children, drowning them, putting them in a microwave oven. They generally kept it to themselves — and often still do.

“They’re afraid the husband will take the baby away,” said Mary Jo Codey, an advocate for women suffering from postpartum depression. “They don’t say anything, and they don’t get help.”

Experts say there has been more attention paid to postpartum depression in recent years — including hospital screening — but many new mothers who suffer from depression remain silent because of guilt about their feelings. Their emotions can range from a lack of connection to their babies to what is called postpartum psychosis, with uncontrollable and pervasive thoughts of harming them.

“Uncontrolled postpartum depression with psychotic features can be dangerous,” said Robert Davison, the CEO of the Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris. “Sadly, many people go untreated.”

On Thursday night, authorities said a 29-year-old mother fatally stabbed her 5-day-old daughter in their Little Ferry apartment as family members were eating dinner. The woman initially told police in a 911 call that she was in danger because her husband was trying to kill her. But after police handcuffed him, relatives told them they had the wrong person, and the mother emerged from a bedroom, according to authorities.

“No, no not him,” she reportedly said. “I did it. I killed my baby.”

Authorities said in an affidavit that she told Bergen County detectives that she “didn’t want her baby.”

There is no way to know from information made public whether the woman, Hiralbahen Bhavsar, was suffering from postpartum depression. She has been charged with first-degree murder and was being held at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center.

Experts say it is common for women who give birth to suffer from what is called the baby blues, feeling irritable and out of sorts because of hormonal changes, a condition that typically improves in about a month.

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of nine suffer from postpartum depression, a much more serious condition.

“Women sometimes will experience increased anxiety about the baby,” Sue Varma, a New York City psychiatrist who specializes in women’s mental health and postpartum issues, wrote in an email.

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She said they may have trouble sleeping and “ruminations that the baby will die while sleeping,” accompanied by feeling “exasperated, numb or checked out.”

She said postpartum psychosis — a more serious condition that includes hallucinations, delusions and rapidly-shifting moods — occurs in one to two births out of every thousand. One of the risk factors, she said, is a family history of bipolar disorder.

It can be treated with a combination of anti-psychotic and mood-stabilizing medications, she said, adding that it “really requires inpatient hospitalization, as it can be dangerous for mom and baby.”

A 2006 law championed by Mary Jo Codey — and her husband, Democratic Sen. and former Gov. Richard Codey — required state health care workers to screen new mothers for postpartum depression.

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It is now routine for hospitals to give new parents written questions to be evaluated and scored, determining the potential for postpartum depression. Those considered at risk are seen by a social worker or a psychiatrist, said Andrew Rubenstein, the section chief of obstetrics at Hackensack University Medical Center.

“It’s one of the most common medical complications in pregnancy,” he said of postpartum depression.

Mary Jo Codey, who suffered from postpartum psychosis after giving birth to her first child more than 30 years ago, said medical professionals didn’t know much about the condition at the time. She has spoken publicly about it for decades.

She said women have told her they were afraid to go out on the balcony with their babies or to the backyard pool after having thoughts about harming them. They believed they were not good mothers, she said, and did not deserve their babies. And they didn’t know other women experienced depression and had similar thoughts after childbirth.

“After I would give a speech, people would come up to me and say, ‘You saved my life,’ ” she said, adding that older people, some in their 80s, told her they didn’t know what was wrong with them when they were young parents.

“They said, ‘It was my silent secret,’ ” she said.

Even now, experts say, some women don’t get help because they are afraid to tell anyone about their depression or thoughts of harming their babies.

“The stigma has lessened,” Davison said. “It still is the primary barrier to services.”

He said two-thirds of the cases that his association has referred for medical treatment have been the result of family members coming forward with concerns. While postpartum psychosis is not common, he said, “I wouldn’t call it rare.” He said it’s caused by “a chemical imbalance brought on by childbirth.” But he added that women also are under pressure “to be the perfect mother.”

“Societal pressure is a contributing factor,” he said.

Although screening has helped identify women with postpartum depression, he said, some cases are missed. He added that it’s important for family members to watch for the condition even after women go home with their babies, and that pediatricians have become more aware of it.

“It’s important for them to take care of not just the child,” he said, “but the mother and the child.”

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