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Many persons perceive postpartum depression as a problem affecting just the new mother. This, however, is not true. The entire family experiences relationship changes that affect family interactions drastically. Depressed mothers who do not seek treatment often place their infants in danger of experiencing serious or fatal setbacks in growth and development.

The medical term for this complex problem is nonorganic failure to thrive. Nonorganic indicates that there is no medical cause for the infant's delays. Because of the mom's postpartum depression, she often stops meeting the infant's nutritional and emotional requirements. Although the baby may cry out in hunger at first, he or she often loses interest and stops interacting with other people. This disorder can cause malnutrition, starvation, and even death.

Physicians use growth charts to follow a child's physical growth with respect to height, weight, and head size. If the infant is healthy at birth, his or her size will be inside the normal range on the growth charts. If the baby starts to experience serious growth delays, the problem will be apparent by comparing his or her progress with normal ranges. Once an infant's growth is lower than the fifth percentile, physicians get worried.

Other symptoms often appear before an infant's growth delays reach this crisis stage. Most infants who develop at a normal rate are interested in their surroundings. In contrast, infants who fail to thrive have little or no curiosity about their surroundings. These babies do not usually make sounds or talk; they have quit trying to respond to their caregivers.

How much of a problem is this condition? If untreated, a child can starve to death. Even if the baby grows enough to remain alive, his or her muscles, bone, and mind cannot develop enough. Furthermore, even when they do get help, these children never "catch up" completely. They often acquire relationship issues or eating disorders, even after they begin to have their needs met.

Babies who failure to thrive often become gravely ill from starvation. They usually are in the hospital for weeks or months. Sometimes, they get so weak that taking a bottle is too tiring. They get nutrition through a tube placed in their stomachs, or even in a vein to get nutrition!

The most tragic aspect of this condition is that it is so preventable. If mothers with postpartum depression recognize their depression when it begins, they are able to seek treatment and never expose their helpless infants to these terrible complications. Indeed, research has demonstrated that nine-tenths of the women who suffer from depression who seek treatment will experience significant improvement!

A number of approaches are useful in treating postpartum depression. Many physicians prescribe medications, such as antidepressants. These medicines are expensive. Nursing mothers should also avoid them. Moreover, antidepressants sometimes cause suicidal thoughts; these medications should be prescribed with great care.

Usually, physicians recommend counseling rather than or in addition to medications. Counseling, however, can be expensive. Additionally, it can be time-consuming, and many weeks may pass before this therapy is successful. Unfortunately, depending on the severity of the woman's depression, this much time may be too much to prevent harm to the infant. If the baby begins to experience growth delays, extra therapies may be required.

Luckily, other non-medicinal therapy approaches can be used. Two innovative, effective approaches that usually offer positive outcomes much faster than counseling, and are not nearly as dangerous as medicine, are Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP and hypnosis for depression. These two approaches usually begin to work after even a single session. Moreover, they are much less expensive than alternative approaches.

Mothers who suspect they have postpartum depression must seek treatment immediately so that their infants are not at risk for dangerous growth delays. The seriousness of the effects on the baby mandates that the treatment work quickly, and be very effective. NLP and hypnosis for depression are inexpensive, work quickly, and are extremely effective. Therefore, both of these treatments are perfect for helping women with postpartum depression.

Summary: Postpartum depression is depression that begins after the birth of a child. These new mothers are not able to provide their babies the caring they must have to live and grow. This results in failure to thrive, a serious, possibly fatal disorder, affecting the baby. Women who suspect that they might have postpartum depression should seek treatment immediately. Hypnosis and NLP for depression are inexpensive and are extremely effective.

Alan B. Densky, CH specializes in stress and depression related symptoms as a certified hypnotist and NLP Practitioner. During his 32-year career he's helped thousands of clients. He offers MP3s for hypnosis depression anxiety. Visit his self-hypnosis website for the hypnosis article index, or watch his free videos on hypnosis.