20. Postpartum Depression with Dr. Sunita Iyer

Episode Summary

Dr. Sunita Iyer has been in clinical practice as a midwife and naturopathic physician, and a graduate level educator for more than a decade. She’s attended more than 500 births and is an expert in prenatal and perinatal care of children and the women who bore them. She teaches patient care to medical students at Bastyr University and the University of Washington, and is passionate about educating future doctors and the general public about natural and integrative approaches to postpartum depression. Dr. Iyer’s career has focused on women’s and pediatric health, specializing in childhood and perinatal mental health. She’s Founder & Clinical Director of an integrative family medicine clinic, Eastside Natural Medicine, that serves as a teaching clinic and a site for an accredited primary care residency program.

Key Takeaways To Tune In For

• [01:20] Dr. Iyer explains how common postpartum depression is
• [02:35] About 80 – 90 percent of women suffer from postpartum blues or have depressive symptoms
• [02:40] How to recognize the difference between exhaustion vs depression
• [04:20] Symptoms of postpartum depression
• [05:05] How families can prepare for postpartum care
• [08:00] How talking about postpartum although out pregnancy helps take away the stigma of postpartum depression
• [10:30] Learning about all forms of feeding can help prevent postpartum depression in first-time moms
• [13:45] Tips for setting up healthy expectations for postpartum depression
• [19:30] Remembering babies just need to be warm and feed can help establish healthy postpartum expectations
• [21:15] Why obstetric providers are not trained to talk about postpartum depression
• [23:30] How Dulas can help with postpartum depression
• [24:56] Different tiers of midwife care
• [25:15] Midwives are appropriate for low-risk pregnancies
• [26:29] Benefits of receiving hospital midwife care
• [27:00] Benefits of receiving out of hospital midwife care
• [30:00] What it’s like for women who are unable to breastfeed and how it can lead to postpartum depression
• [35:45] Dr. Iyer’s partying words

Resources talked about in this episode

• Guest Blog- Life, Naturally 
• Guest website – Eastside Natural Medicine 
• Guest social media – Dr. Sunita’s Instagram

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