A MUM who had suicidal thoughts after suffering postnatal depression (PND) believes more support is needed for women who are struggling.

Laurie-Anne Northcott had PND after giving birth to her two sons Blake, now aged five, and Robin, 11 months.

She spent the early days of her younger son’s life unable to sleep, cleaning for three hours a day and overwhelmed with dark thoughts, but feels proper support earlier in her pregnancy could have avoided her descent into PND.

Miss Northcott also had other pregnancy-related complications including hyperemesis – severe vomiting, nausea and dehydration – the condition suffered by the Duchess of Cambridge.

The 25-year-old, from Warndon, said she was only examined for PND during her first pregnancy because there was a family history of the condition, and believes every expectant mum should be assessed when expecting.

During her second pregnancy, Miss Northcott spent seven months in Worcestershire Royal Hospital (WRH) due to hyperemesis – but believes not enough mental health support was provided, leading to other problems.

She said hospital staff struggled to get hold of the perinatal mental health team at Studdert Kennedy House and she was only seen by her assigned perinatal nurse once during her second pregnancy.

“Not getting the support through that [hyperemesis] led to the depression, which has then led to fibromyalgia, which comes on from the trauma of the pregnancy," she told the Worcester News.

She continued: “If I’d have got treated in the pregnancy for the mental health problems I had, I wouldn’t have got so bad with my depression – I think it would’ve still been a problem, but I wouldn’t have got the fibromyalgia and I wouldn’t be struggling as much now.

“I’ve had to leave work, which I was planning on going back to.”

After giving birth to Robin last year she got home and “had a complete meltdown” due to PND. She said: “I wouldn’t let anyone touch him, I didn’t want to be away from him. I went home and we’d tidied everything but it wasn’t good enough.

“After you have a baby you’re in pain, but I wouldn’t sit down – I was cleaning for about three hours and hadn’t slept for 24 hours.

“Over the next few days I couldn’t sleep properly, even though I was so tired, watching him.”

This led to feelings of suicide, though Miss Northcott, who is due to marry partner of four years Paul Bedford in January, said support of her family helped her begin to pull through.

“You feel like you’re not good enough. You feel like even though you’re looking after your kids and you’re trying to do everything, you hurt, your whole body is returning to normal and I suppose I had it more extreme because I’d lost muscle in my legs, due to the hyperemesis.

“I’d lost weight and the whole body wasn’t right. I had kidney and liver problems, you can imagine it was a million times worse.

“I was just so tired and fed up that you don’t want to feel like you can go on anymore and it gets to a point where you’re so tired you are in a trance and you are a robot.

“You are so worried to sleep, but you’re so tired you need to sleep. It just all gets to you and you think I can’t do this anymore.

“But then you’ve got these kids that need you.”

Referring to a recent case which saw a mum given a suspended sentence for shaking her baby so hard he may never walk, talk or see, Miss Northcott said she had some sympathy.

“That mum could easily have been me,” she said. “It could easily have been anyone who isn’t getting that support they are supposed to be getting. Because it only takes you one time where that baby won’t go down or won’t stop screaming.

“There have been many times where I’ve put him down and walked away because you need to put them down walk away have a cry and then come back. And it works.”

Miss Northcott said there was a lack of communication between perinatal staff, meaning she had many missed appointments during her pregnancy – while very little support is provided after giving birth.

This led to many trips to her GP and the hospital, where she was often prescribed antidepressants, sleeping pills and painkillers which only provided short-term relief.

“They need to get their system in check and they need to make sure that GPs have good access to them.

“I’ve been told I’ve got PTSD now from the hyperemesis, which is six weeks between appointments, on a long waiting list, over six months. They just need more accessible people.”

Miss Northcott said following her first pregnancy with Blake, she “didn’t want to admit” she was feeling the symptoms of PND “because what if this has a negative impact on the way I’m allowed to parent?”

She uses a number of online forums for mums but said she has never been made aware of any face-to-face support groups for mums suffering with mental health problems, particularly PND.

She said: “For the first few weeks [of pregnancy] you’ve got everyone coming to see you, make sure you’re okay.

“Then it just dwindles down and you are left, and your partner goes back to work and you’re on your own, with a tiny baby that still needs 24/7 care. You just feel like that’s it.

“You’ve gone through everything, you’ve had all the support and then everyone’s disappeared, and you wonder what to do with yourself,” she added.

On Friday it was announced the Perinatal Mental Health team, run by Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, has received a share of £350,000 secured through the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP).

According to the trust, the monies will help develop already existing services.

See hacw.nhs.uk/our-services/perinatal-psychiatry for more information.