Three things, one name

Almost everything a new mother gets told about her mood comes under one phrase. The baby blues. It is used for a bad afternoon and it is used for something that needs a doctor, which means it explains nothing.

Underneath the phrase there are three different states. They start at different times, they last for different lengths, and they need completely different things from you.

The first is the low, weepy, overwhelmed stretch that usually begins around the third to the fifth day and settles on its own within about a fortnight. The second is low mood that is still there after those two weeks and is getting in the way of your life. The third is a different category altogether, it is rare, and lesson one is where it belongs rather than lesson six.