One Mom’s Postpartum Anxiety Eased with SNOO
Nine weeks into her first pregnancy, Amanda Weissman suffered a devastating miscarriage. Shortly after, she discovered she was pregnant again….and was understandably nervous. Feeling the trauma of the miscarriage combined with a history of depression and anxiety, Amanda was on edge.
"I had a lot of anxiety about whether or not the baby was gonna be okay," Amanda said.
Thankfully, nine months later she welcomed a healthy son, Ezra, into the world. But the heavy-feeling of anxiety didn't leave her. As is typical with postpartum anxiety, Amanda was terrified of anything happening to her sweet baby boy. She would fixate on blemishes and wonder if they were signs of disease or infection. She would wake up constantly to make sure he was breathing. She was so obsessed with checking on Ezra that it became difficult for her to get any sleep.
As if things couldn’t feel worse, when Ezra was two weeks old he somehow turned over onto his stomach while he was sleeping. Luckily, his cries woke Amanda. She immediately picked him up and was panicked—in all her worries, she hadn't thought Ezra would be able to get onto his stomach as a 2-week-old.
Even after this incident, Amanda thought she was experiencing run-of-the-mill "baby blues" which up to 80% of moms experience. Baby blues are defined by WebMD as "short-term dips in mood caused by changes that come with a new baby." It typically last for about two weeks postpartum.
Amanda's feelings of obsession, anxiety, and fear weren’t fading—if anything they were worsening—sometimes waking every 30 minutes to check if Ezra was breathing. She was having difficulties prying herself away from the baby to eat dinner or take a shower—only feeling calm when she was watching Ezra herself. Amanda found herself obsessing over worst possible outcomes over every tiny detail—like reading about SIDS frequently.
“Before, my anxiety was about me,” Amanda said. “With postpartum anxiety, it was all about the baby.”
When Ezra was about one month old and her anxiety wasn’t getting any better, Amanda's fiancé Kevin told her that she needed to check in with her psychiatrist. He noticed her obsessions about the baby’s safety and the way she isolated herself and Ezra.
"I got defensive at first but then I realized he was right," Amanda said. "I was scared about everything…it just seemed so fragile."
Amanda visited her psychiatrist and shared her worries and lack of sleep. Her psychiatrist helped Amanda by adjusting her medication and suggested she try SNOO Smart Sleeper.
After researching SNOO (and talking it over with Kevin), the new mom decided to give it a shot. She was excited to know that there was no way for Ezra to turn over and end up on his stomach again. Kevin was ready to try anything that would help Amanda and Ezra both get some sleep.
The first few nights that Ezra was in his SNOO bassinet, Amanda was still used to waking up to check on him. But when she did, he was “so peaceful” that she finally felt relaxed enough to go back to sleep, too. After just a few nights, she entirely stopped waking up from anxiety to check on Ezra and instead only woke up if he cried.
After they started using SNOO, Ezra began sleeping through the night. Naturally, Amanda was sleeping more, too. And her postpartum anxiety was less intense.
"SNOO eased my mind," Amanda said. "It was really helpful to know that he could not flip himself over.”
With the help of SNOO, therapy, and medication, Amanda is facing her postpartum anxiety and depression head on.
“Being able to make sure my baby is safe helped just as much as the medication does,” Amanda said.
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