Una Healy has revealed she suffered from a mild form of postnatal depression after giving birth to her second child.
The ‘Saturdays’ singer, 35, who is mum to Aoife, five, and Tadgh, two, with her husband Ben Foden, said she is naturally a worrier and always wants everything to be right.
“After I had Tadgh, it was different though, it was such an overwhelming low that I experienced,” she told HuffPost UK.
“I felt a little bit embarrassed to talk to anyone, even to my mum who I am very, very close to – I didn’t tell her at all.”
Healy said having her second child was a lot more responsibility, because she had to look after a toddler as well as a newborn.
“It was still all very new to me and overwhelming,” she explained.
“I did find it difficult. I think I overcomplicated things by moving house and going back to work so soon, along with such an awful pain in my lower back, so it really added up and made it quite a stressful time.”
Rather than speaking to friends and family, Healy went straight to the doctor.
“I told her everything,” she said. “She took it all down and told me that I had a mild form of postnatal depression.
“She put me on antidepressants for it and they didn’t really agree with me at all. So I came off them and it wasn’t until I actually started speaking about it that I realised some of my friends had it too, so it wasn’t just me.”
The mum-of-two said the more she spoke about it, the more she realised it was a “normal” thing to happen.
“It doesn’t happen to everyone but it does happen and it definitely shouldn’t be a taboo subject,” Healy added.
“This is the big problem with the loneliness, you can feel like the only person in the world. If you think about all the babies born every day and all the new mums, there are so many people that you’ve got things in common with out there but you’ve got to speak about it otherwise you won’t know.”
Healy said it took her a few months to get back to feeling “okay”, and a year before she felt herself again.
“And I totally do feel myself again,” she added. “I like to speak to people – I’ve had a little bit of cognitive therapy as well to help with my feelings and anxieties and that sort of thing and I’ve found that they do really help.
“They help you put yourself in a much more positive frame of mind. I found that exercise helped too, all these things helped. But you won’t know what to do or who to turn to if you don’t speak out.”
When asked about what advice she’d give other mums who are experiencing a sense of loneliness after giving birth, Healy recommended going out to meet other mums to be around people in the same boat at yourself.
She said she and Foden have no plans on having a third child, but added: “You never know, but I doubt it.”
Healy spoke about her experiences after partnering with Tommy’s, a charity funding research into the causes of miscarriage, stillbirth hand premature birth, and Water Babies, which runs swimming classes for babies and toddlers.
A Splashathon event for Tommy’s will be taking place at Water Babies classes across the UK during July. Raising £1million during this year’s Splashathon will help 60,000 women have access to clinics, at the Tommy’s centres, such as the National Miscarriage Centre.
For information and support:
Mind: A mental health charity there to make sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone. Call: 0300 123 3393.
Pandas Foundation: Charity to support and advise any parent who is experiencing a perinatal mental illness. Call: 0843 28 98 401.
Mothers for Mothers: A postnatal depression support group with information and peer advice. Call: 0117 975 6006.
PNI: A website run by women who have suffered from postnatal illnesses to share personal experiences and offer support.
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