mood swings pre and post baby

[eli's mama]

Not sure if this it the right place to post this so mods feel free to move me!

If you were moody or hormonal or however you want to phrase it, while you were pg, did you find that it went away right away or were you just as "touchy" post partum as well? I find that even 7 (almost 8) months post partum I feel just as emotional as when I was pregnant. I'm asking because my sister is 6 weeks pg and i feel like I keep accidentally offending her and getting offended by her! It's driving me nuts because I know that she is sensitive right now and pretty emotional but it's little things like not responding right away to emails and stuff. I know i'm being nutty but I wanted to know if anyone else was still kind of like this for so long!

TIA!

[RedOakMomma]

I wouldn't say I had mood swings, but i was more tired and physically taxed during the first year. It had an effect on my relationship with dh, for sure, and I wasn't nearly as social as I usually am. I think the work and physical effort of nursing/cosleeping can make anyone a little moody.

[MiaMama]

I had a crazy emotional rollercoaster when I was pregnant that evened out pretty well when the baby was born.

However, at around 9-11 months postpartum, I started getting very frustrated and angry over relatively minor things. A friend asked if I had stopped taking my prenantals... I had mostly stopped by then.

I started taking them again, and it was amazing. I could stay on top of my emotions again! I don't know exactly what in them I was missing out on, but they helped immensely.

[Geerbabe]

I agree with the "burn-out" of having a newborn in the house. I usually hit bottom around 6 months post-partum. I'm tired from constant interruption of my sleep. I've been consistently on-call to someone else's needs, and I haven't had a date night with my husband since before the baby was born. It does start to improve as the baby gets a little more independant, sleeps better, and I'm able to get some "me" time once in a while.

On a side note: You don't always know how tired you are, but me and most of my friends have all had car accidents within the first few months of having a baby. I think it's because our judment is compromised and our reactions are slower from lack of sleep.