What Are the Baby Blues?
The baby blues are mild, short-lived mood changes in the first two weeks after giving birth. Tearfulness, worry, irritability, exhaustion and a mood that swings from one hour to the next are the core of it. You may also see them called postpartum blues, maternity blues or postnatal blues. They are all the same thing.
They are very common, though the exact number depends on who is counting. The only meta-analysis, which pooled 26 studies, put the figure at 39%, with individual studies ranging from 14% to 76%. A French study that followed 3,310 women found 33%. Some patient guides say up to 80%, which is the top of the range, not the typical rate. The honest summary is that somewhere between one in three new mothers and more than half experience them.
The baby blues are not a psychiatric diagnosis. They are not listed as a disorder in the DSM-5, they do not stop you functioning, and they pass without treatment. That does not make them meaningless. How intense they are is one of the clues worth paying attention to, which is covered below.
When the Baby Blues Start and How Long They Last
A brief, sharp drop in mood that happens specifically at let-down is something different — see D-MER.
The baby blues usually start two to three days after birth and are gone within two weeks, often within a few days.
| When | What is typical |
| Days 1–2 | Often relief, exhaustion or a rush of feeling. Mood changes have usually not started yet. |
| Days 2–3 | Tearfulness, anxiety and irritability begin for many women. |
| Days 4–6 | The peak for most women in most studies. Researchers do not agree on an exact peak day. |
| Up to 2 weeks | Symptoms fade on their own, sometimes within a few days. |
| Past 2 weeks | No longer typical of the baby blues. Time to talk to a clinician. |
If your low mood or anxiety is still there after two weeks, or it started later than the first few days, it is worth being checked for postpartum depression. Two weeks is a reason to get evaluated, not a diagnosis in itself.
Symptoms of the Baby Blues
- Crying easily, or for no clear reason
- Mood swings, feeling up one moment and low the next
- Feeling overwhelmed or unsure you can cope
- Anxiety and worry, often about the baby
- Irritability, including feeling angry with the baby, your partner or your other children
- Exhaustion beyond what the night feeds explain
- Trouble sleeping even when you get the chance
- Muddled thinking and trouble concentrating
- A smaller appetite than usual
The defining feature is what the baby blues do not do. They do not stop you from caring for your baby or for yourself. You may cry through a feed, but the feed still happens.
Why Do I Cry So Much After Giving Birth?
Tearfulness is the single most common experience in the early postpartum days. When researchers built a questionnaire specifically for the baby blues, “tearful” was the item women reported most often, ahead of tired, anxious and over-emotional.
Crying is not the same as depression. Researchers have warned against reading tearfulness as a sign of depressed mood, and many women who cry every day in the first week are not depressed at all. Nobody has pinned down exactly why the crying happens. It lines up with the steepest hormonal change of your life, arriving on top of broken sleep and a new responsibility that does not switch off.
What Causes the Baby Blues?
The cause is not established, and anyone who tells you it is “just hormones” is going further than the evidence. What is known:
- Hormones change dramatically. Estrogen levels drop 100- to 1,000-fold in the first three to four days after birth, and the peak of the blues roughly coincides with that fall. But the studies that measured hormone levels directly disagree with each other. One found lower levels of allopregnanolone, a progesterone byproduct, in women with the blues; another found no link with sex hormones at all.
- Brain chemistry shifts. A small brain-imaging study found an enzyme that breaks down serotonin and dopamine was 43% more active in the first week after birth. That is a plausible mechanism, not a proven cause.
- Sleep loss probably contributes. It is widely blamed and makes intuitive sense, but the evidence is mixed. One recent study found stress, not poor sleep, was the factor that stood out.
Who Is More Likely to Get Them
In the French study of 3,310 women, several factors made the baby blues more likely:
- A personal history of mental health problems
- A family history of mental health problems
- Trauma in childhood
- Stressful life events during pregnancy
The effect added up: each additional factor raised the risk by about 31%. A history of premenstrual mood changes is also linked to a higher chance of the blues.
Baby Blues or Postpartum Depression?
| Baby blues | Postpartum depression | |
| Starts | 2–3 days after birth | Most often 1–3 weeks after birth, but can begin in pregnancy or up to a year later |
| Lasts | A few days to 2 weeks | Longer than 2 weeks, often months without treatment |
| Mood | Comes and goes; good moments still happen | Persistently low, empty, anxious or hopeless |
| Daily life | You can still care for yourself and the baby | Makes daily tasks hard or impossible |
| Thoughts of self-harm | Not part of the baby blues | Can occur and need an urgent response |
| Treatment | Rest, reassurance and support | Therapy, medication or both |
Duration alone does not decide it. A diagnosis of postpartum depression means meeting the criteria for depression, such as five or more symptoms lasting longer than two weeks. That assessment is a clinician’s job, and it starts with telling someone. For a fuller list, see the signs of postpartum depression.
Can the Baby Blues Turn Into Postpartum Depression?
The baby blues are not an early stage of depression, and most women who have them never develop it. But they are a genuine risk factor.
In the French study, after accounting for women’s past history of depression, having the baby blues roughly doubled the odds of postpartum depression starting within eight weeks, and the link was strongest when the blues were severe. In another study, 27.7% of women who had the blues went on to develop depression, compared with 16.4% of women who did not.
So if your baby blues were intense, keep an eye on how you feel over the following weeks rather than assuming the danger has passed once they lift.
Do Fathers and Partners Get the Baby Blues?
They can. In a French study of 303 fathers, at least 17.5% experienced the baby blues within 10 days of the birth, and those symptoms were linked to a weaker bond with the baby. Another study of new parents found that mothers’ blues and fathers’ low moods in the first week tended to rise together.
This is separate from depression in fathers, which affects about 1 in 10 during pregnancy and the first year and peaks later. See postpartum depression in men.
What Helps With the Baby Blues
The baby blues do not need medication. What helps is rest, reassurance and support:
- Protect your sleep. Sleep when the baby sleeps if you can, and let someone else take a feed or a night shift.
- Ask for help and accept it. Meals, laundry, older children and visitors are all things other people can handle.
- Say it out loud. Knowing that the blues are common, and expected, takes a lot of the fear out of them. Tell your partner, a friend or your midwife how you are feeling.
- Lower the bar. The first two weeks are for recovering and feeding. Everything else can wait.
- Try what calms you. Studies of music, relaxation, massage and education found they lowered blues scores, although no single approach worked better than the others.
If you are still pregnant, it helps to plan now for who will support you and how you will get rest in those first two weeks.
When to Call a Doctor or Midwife
Call your ob-gyn, midwife or primary care doctor if:
- Your symptoms have not improved after two weeks
- They are getting worse instead of better
- They are so intense that caring for yourself or your baby feels impossible
- You are having thoughts of harming yourself or your baby
Do not wait for your postpartum checkup to raise it.
If you are having thoughts of harming yourself or your baby, reach out today. Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or call or text the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262). Both are free and open 24 hours a day. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
Signs of Postpartum Psychosis
Rarely, in about 1 to 2 of every 1,000 births, a serious illness called postpartum psychosis develops, usually within the first two weeks. It is a medical emergency. Call 911 if a new mother shows:
- Confusion or disorientation
- Seeing, hearing or smelling things that are not there
- Beliefs that are clearly not true
- Extreme suspicion or paranoia
- Racing thoughts, little need for sleep, or behavior that is out of character
Checking How You Are Doing
If you want something more concrete than a feeling, the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 are free, take a few minutes and score themselves on this site. Nothing you enter is saved or sent anywhere. If your clinic gave you an Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, you can score it here too. A screening score is not a diagnosis, but it gives you something specific to bring to an appointment.
If what you are feeling is mostly fear or anger rather than sadness, read about postpartum anxiety and postpartum rage, which are common and often missed by depression screens.
Find a therapist who treats perinatal mood conditions
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the baby blues?
The baby blues are mild, temporary mood changes after giving birth, including tearfulness, mood swings, anxiety, irritability and exhaustion. They usually start two to three days after birth and fade within two weeks without treatment.
How long do the baby blues last?
Usually from a few days up to two weeks. If low mood, anxiety or tearfulness lasts longer than two weeks, or keeps getting worse, talk to a clinician about postpartum depression.
When do the baby blues start?
Most often two to three days after birth. Most studies find they peak somewhere between days four and six.
Is it normal to cry a lot after having a baby?
Yes. Tearfulness is the most common symptom of the baby blues, and crying in the first week or two is not by itself a sign of depression. It becomes a concern if it lasts beyond two weeks or comes with hopelessness, an inability to function, or thoughts of self-harm.
What is the difference between baby blues and postpartum depression?
The baby blues are mild, short and do not stop you caring for yourself or your baby. Postpartum depression lasts longer than two weeks, is more severe, interferes with daily life, and needs treatment.
How common are the baby blues?
Estimates range widely, from about one in three new mothers to more than half. The only meta-analysis found 39%.
Can the baby blues turn into postpartum depression?
They do not usually, but they are a risk factor, especially when they are severe. Keep checking in with yourself in the weeks after they lift.
Do the baby blues need treatment?
No. Rest, reassurance, practical help and emotional support are what help. Medication is not used for the baby blues.
Can dads get the baby blues?
Yes. One study found at least 17.5% of fathers had baby blues symptoms in the first 10 days after birth.
