I am new here..(and a fairly new parent)

I had pre natal depression and I was doing really well mentally after the bub was born up until the bub started to become more active. Maybe because sometimes I don't know what to do activity wise. We play, read books, sing songs etc but as the day goes on I run out of ideas and energy and I start to feel blank inside. Even though I love our baby, I feel sometimes I go through the motions without being engaged or present. There are sleep issues at the moment too which doesn't help. Is this what normal parenting feels like? Does anyone else feel like this?

Also making things worse is over the past three weeks, the neighbour over the road has been playing music for 6-10 hours a day almost every day. It's loud enough for the bass to be heard inside my house and I can't go out into our yard unless I want to be fully blasted. The neighbour is only playing his music during lawful hours but it's the length of time that is impacting me. I don't want to judge a book by it's cover but most encounters with this man and his family have involved unfriendly stony stares in our direction. I feel if we were to approach them about this issue, their reaction would be to turn up the volume. Council information pushes the 'speak to your neighbour' solution. I did read something on another post about therapy that desenitizes you to noise but I can't find the thread. Does anyone have more information about this?

Hi Lionintheshade,

Wellcome to our forums!

I’m sorry you are going through this I understand it’s hard…….. I had postnatal anxiety with my babies and I understand it’s very challenging what you are going through.

Are you involved in a mother’s group or playgroup? I found this really helpful to engage with other mums.

Are you currently seeing a psychologist? There are perinatal clinics in some areas …psychologists and psychiatrists can run out of the same practice that specialise in these conditions. Maybe you could ask your gp if they know of one.

Thank you for your advice. I think having a talk with my GP again is a good idea and see what help is available. I don't think the blank feeling is quite healthy...Some decent sleep would probably help me too!

I don't know how confident I would be joining a mum's group but I'll have a look to see what's around. From your suggestion, I thought maybe I could join a library session for kids or something like that too.

Sounds like a great plan Lionitheshade, I’m sure your gp will be able to help you with the way you are currently feeling…….

I understand the lack of sleep plays a part in the way we feel aswell I believe.

Do you have any one who could get up to Bub in the night for a couple of nights so you can get some sleep?

A library session sounds wonderful, I’m sure there will also be other mums there…….

I understand with your feelings of joining a mums group or play group but I also felt this way in the beginning……… but once I made myself attend one a week I felt it really helped me to feel connected again with adults……. The mums were all super nice and in the same boat as me, I also found it helpful that I had to plan for that day so I could get bub and me ready and out the house on time to be at the playgroup.

It was also good for bubs to interact with other children, we stayed in our group for nearly 4 years so we both made life long friends 😊

Im sure your self and bub could do the same.