Fathers need postnatal depression advice too

09 March 2010 @ 12:23 pm EDT

Based on reviews performed by Dr Richard Fletcher from the University of Newcastle, on popular parenting and mental health web sites, fathers are often disregarded when it comes to the dealings of postnatal depression care.

Nine Australian web sites have been found to contain huge information that focuses on mother-specific postnatal depression, but had little of data that targets the fathers.

According to Dr Fletcher, one in seven mothers will experience depression following the birth of a child. He continues with saying that, "This means that just as many fathers have a new baby, a wife or partner who is miserable and very little support."

Just knowing general information about postnatal depression does not really help fathers in any practical way, when in one room, the mother is sobbing while in another the baby is crying.

Dr Fletcher says that the web sites should provide practical real-life examples of how fathers can best cope with postnatal depression in their home.

This should include additional advice on larger roles of how a father can contribute in taking care of the mother as well as the baby.

A number of the Australian sites that were reviewed had welcomed the positive call for the improvement in the information published so that it can start to focus on dad-specific contents as well.

He says that these sites are so used to provide information that is focused on the mothers and child care that a change is needed. "It's not that they don't value dads, they just don't notice that they have ignored the father's aspect," says Fletcher.

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Fathers need postnatal depression advice too

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