World Maternal Mental Health Day 2023: supporting new families across the US

World Maternal Mental Health Day takes place across the globe on May 3, 2023.

The event has been running since 2016 when an international group of maternal mental health activists, clinicians, academics, and people with lived experiences came together to raise awareness and demand better maternal health services.

Designed to shine a spotlight on maternal mental health issues – which can occur before, during and after pregnancy – the campaign aims to change attitudes surrounding mental health, while providing essential information, care, and support to those who need it.

The theme for this year’s World Maternal Mental Health Day is ‘Stronger Together’ – encouraging people to start conversations, to know the signs of maternal mental ill-health, and to come together to find help and support for all women on their motherhood journey.

Maternal mental health: the signs and symptoms

Having a baby totally changes your life and it’s completely normal to feel anxious, emotional, or even overwhelmed, both during the pregnancy and after the birth. Latest figures show that up to 1 in 5 women who are pregnant or in the postpartum period will experience perinatal mental health conditions.

Perinatal mental health concerns can occur any time from becoming pregnant up to a year after the birth. It can either be a new mental health concern or a flare up of a previous problem.

It’s important to remember that every mom is different, but symptoms of maternal mental health problems may include:

• A persistent feeling of sadness or low mood
• Feeling anxious at being left alone with your baby
• Experiencing worrying thoughts
• Difficulty adjusting to motherhood
• Feeling stressed and tearful
• Finding it difficult to overcome your birth

Most women will feel what is known as the baby blues in the days after giving birth. However, it’s important to tell someone how you’re feeling and to understand that, if your problems persist, you may be suffering with a perinatal mood disorder.

Causes of maternal mental health problems

There are lots of reasons why someone may develop a maternal mental health problem, including:

• Previous mental health issues
• Experience of abuse
• A lack of support
• Difficult childhood experiences
• A challenging birth
• Stressful living conditions
• A major life event

As a leading DNA and paternity testing laboratory, we know all too well how significant stressful life events and choices can impact someone’s pregnancy and their transition into parenthood. This includes when there are questions regarding the paternity of the child. Without answers, this cannot only result in tension between families and partners but can also have an intense effect on people’s mental and physical health.

Non-invasive prenatal and paternity testing you can trust

At AlphaBiolabs, we’ve been helping new mothers and their families get those all-important answers for almost 20 years.

From just $129, our home paternity test kits offer results in as little as three business days after we receive your samples and are 100% accurate. This extremely easy test simply requires cheek swabs to be rubbed quickly and painlessly on the inside of the mouth to collect cheek cell DNA from each test participant (the potential father and child). This test can therefore be carried out on new-born babies.

We also offer a prenatal paternity test that’s 100% risk-free for both mom and baby and can be carried out as early as seven weeks into pregnancy.

We are accredited to the international quality standard ISO 17025 for laboratory testing, so you can be sure of receiving 100% accurate and reliable results.

It’s easy to order your peace of mind paternity test or prenatal paternity test online. However, if you require assistance, please email our friendly Customer Services team at info@alphabiolabsusa.com.