Anne Wimer

Anne Wimer is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Postpartum Support and Education and the Co-Founder of Moms Supporting Moms. In 2008, Anne was selected from among thousands of contest entrants as one of the winners of the Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs “Celebrating 100 Extraordinary Women.” Anne, the mother of 10-year-old Ben and 13-year-old Alex, suffered from postpartum depression herself and has since helped nearly 1,000 families in North Carolina get through various perinatal mood disorders.

What is postpartum depression?

Postpartum depression is just one subset on the spectrum of disorders known as Perinatal Mood Disorders (PMD). At the Center for Perinatal Emotional Wellness and in the Moms Supporting Moms groups, we see various manifestations of perinatal mood disorders, including panic and anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, postpartum depression, and even posttraumatic stress disorder.

How did you come to be involved in helping women cope with perinatal mood disorders?

Very soon after the birth of my first child, I just didn’t feel right. I talked to my doctor when Alex was about eight weeks old, but I didn’t get the help I needed. He asked me if I was feeling suicidal or thinking of hurting the baby, and because I wasn’t, he just sent me on my way and called it the “baby blues.” I felt incredibly overwhelmed and had intense feelings of anxiety but finally, when my son was about 10 to 12 week old, I started to feel better.

When we decided to get pregnant again, I knew that I needed to find out what had happened with my first child—because I didn’t want it to happen again. I switched practices and found a group that acknowledged that perinatal mood disorders do exist. The first thing they did, while I was still pregnant, was to reassure me that all I had to do was call and someone would help me right away. They took it seriously, which was important to me.

As soon as Ben was born, the anxiety hit and I had trouble sleeping and eating. We tried medication for sleep (which didn’t help, because it didn’t help with the anxiety), but what eventually helped me most was a combination of anti-anxiety medication and therapy.  Because I was more open about my struggles that time around, I also had lots of family support and friends.

Once I'd recovered, I teamed up with my OB and my therapist to found Moms Supporting Moms. That was ten years ago. Today, the support group is thriving. Our peer facilitators have all had perinatal mood disorders themselves, have recovered and gone through training.  Three years ago, Rex Hospital adopted our group so now we meet there and they give us a great deal of support. We benefit from a pool of medical advisors, including an OB, psychiatrist, therapist, pediatrician, and a number of nurses. Our meetings are held weekly and anyone is welcome. (You don't have to have delivered your baby at Rex to come to one of our meetings; in fact, we have had moms who have driven in from Fayetteville and Pinehurst.)

A year ago, I co-founded Postpartum Support and Education. We aim to raise public awareness about perinatal mood disorders, provide outreach programs for expectant and new parents, and offer training for professionals in the community. In everything we do, we educate people about the existence of perinatal mood disorders, how to spot its symptoms, and how to get the help you need. Our website is online at www.postpartumeducationandsupport.com.

How do you think breastfeeding and postpartum depression are related?

Breastfeeding issues and concerns come up quite a lot at the Center. Mothers who are suffering from perinatal mood disorders are under a lot of stress and, sometimes, breastfeeding becomes another thing to feel stressed about. Some women with perinatal mood disorders are very committed to breastfeeding because, as Brooke Shields explained so eloquently in her book Down Came the Rain, nursing can be one of the only ways a mom feels she can bond with the baby when she is struggling with a postpartum mood disorder.

With our mothers, we emphasize the importance of getting at least five hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. This is important for all new moms, but it's especially crucial for moms who're dealing with perinatal mood disorders. Whether a mom decides to wean, to pump, or to supplement with formula, having her husband or someone else give the baby a bottle in the middle of the night can help give that mom the restorative sleep that she desperately needs.

In everything we do, breastfeeding included, our goal is to support the mother in what she wants to do and to encourage her in the areas that are most helpful for her.

Do you use lactation consultants in your work at the Center?

If a woman with a perinatal mood disorder is worried about her milk supply, an ineffective latch, or the baby's weight gain, we want to work with her to allay those fears. Certainly, the help of a positive, reassuring lactation consultant can be invaluable in helping a woman maintain a breastfeeding relationship if that's what she wants to do. If a mother is struggling with breastfeeding, we encourage her to feel good about the length of time she has breastfed,and then let go of any negative feelings or self-doubt in order to make a decision about breastfeeding that is based on her well-being and the baby’s. And we encourage the use of a lactation consultant when it's time to wean,  no matter the reason, so that it will go as smoothly as possible.

In your experience, what kind of help do new mothers battling with depression and anxiety need most?

First and foremost, mothers with perinatal mood disorders need to hear that what they're going through is real. They need to be acknowledged and validated.

In addition, they need support from everyone around them—their partners, their doctors, the nurses they talk to on the phone, their extended family, and their friends. It's amazing what a difference it makes to women when they know that their families and friends recognize that what they're going through is real. They're already struggling with guilt so it just doesn't help when a family member or close friend says something like, "You have such a healthy, beautiful baby. Why are you sad?"

It's estimated that about 15% of women experience a true perinatal mood disorder, but studies have also shown that as many as 50-60% of women experienced some level of distress after delivery that they didn't talk about at the time. These are women who didn't necessarily need medication or therapy, but for whom support and resources would have been helpful and reassuring. The transition to motherhood can be very challenging because it's so isolating. If a woman lives far from her family, just recently left the workplace, or her friends don't have children themselves, she quickly finds herself feeling very alone. Getting involved with a support group can help tremendously.