Local mum-of-three Lily Majstorovic suffered post-natal depression after the birth of her second child, so when it came to having her third, she wanted to be prepared.
“This time around I wanted to make sure I had support in place,” Ms Majstorovic said.
After the recent birth of her daughter, Maryam, Ms Majstorovic enrolled in Mater Mothers’ Hospitals’ centre for new parents experiencing anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges – Catherine’s House for Mothers, Babies and Families.
The centre provides support to new mothers in their first six months after birth and includes a dedicated in-patient unit with 10 rooms and Mater’s Parent Support Centre (PSC), staffed by GPs, lactation consultants, child health nurses, psychologists and allied health practitioners.
Catherine’s House service development and research team leader, Dr Grace Branjerdporn, urged women to seek help early.
“There’s a societal expectation on mums to be able to keep it all together – to be able to give birth, bounce back and keep being a super mum,” Dr Branjerdporn said.
“Women need to understand the risk factors and being aware of pre–existing mental health issues is important – it’s vital to recognise the symptoms early.
“Don’t just brush it off as being the ‘baby blues’ and that ‘everyone has it’ – seek help, pick up the phone and contact a specialist service or talk to your GP.”
The Mater research team discovered that there has been a “significant increase” in Queensland women experiencing anxiety and depression during pregnancy.
A long-term study conducted by the team found that, in 2022, 22.6 per cent (of almost 67,000) pregnant women were suffering anxiety and/or depression, as opposed to 16.5 per cent in 2013.
Rates of anxiety rose from 7.4 per cent to 18.4 per cent over the same period, while cases of depression increased from 13.6 per cent to 16.3 per cent.
“This was my third caesarean section and while I had no birthing complications with Maryam, I did feel after having my second child that I didn’t have much support,” Mrs Majstorovic said.
“After I gave birth to Maryam, I had trouble getting her to latch and settle, but fortunately the parent support centre was available to help me.
“It’s a comfort knowing that if I need support or feel isolated someone would be there for me.”
The research was undertaken by Mater’s obstetrics and gynaecology specialist Dr Erin Wilson, and hospital registrars Dr Nadine Becuzzi and Dr Georgia Bertram.
Dr Wilson said the findings could reflect wider mental health trends and warned, in a small number of cases, the consequences for women and babies could be extremely serious.
“Perinatal mental health is an important issue and a priority for healthcare in Australia.”
The PSC is a self-referral service and is free for Medicare eligible patients.
The service welcomes parents and babies who were born at Mater Mothers’, including Mater’s Redlands, Townsville, Rockhampton and Mackay hospitals.
