[bromanchik]

I think almost all birthmothers experience some sort of depression after placement. It is a symptom of grief, and I would say really hard to differentiate between the experience of grief and PPD. In fact, I really hesitate to identify it as PPD because the outcomes are so different. And because agencies and providers have often used the syndrome as a way of getting around the loss and grief in adoption.

I do know a number of women that experienced PPD with subsequant children. Myself, I had "Pre Partum Depression". I convinced myself after my son was born that I was not mother material and I would never have children. 5 years and one husband later I found myself thinging of parenting... and it terrified me. I literally plunged into depression. It took about 8 months of therapy for me to realize that what I was grappling with was shame and not feeling "worthy" to be a parent. Those messages are so ingrained into birthparents we often do not recognise them.