Support for Siblings

How Siblings Can Support Their Sister with Postpartum Depression

It is well known that postpartum depression doesn’t just affect the mother. Postpartum depression challenges an entire family and can become overwhelming for everyone involved. This includes siblings who may struggle to cope when their sister suffers from postpartum depression.

A relationship with a sibling may be the longest relationship someone has during the course of their lifetime. These long, rich relationships can be strained when one sibling is affected by a health condition such as postpartum depression. Withdrawal from social events and responsibilities can initially prevent people from realizing her state.

Many factors can determine how postpartum depression affects someone. If you’re close to your sister, it can be devastating to realize she is suffering.

Additionally, household responsibilities like child care and homemaking often on family members during postpartum depression because it debilitates the affected person. Many of these responsibilities fall to siblings who live nearby or are close to the woman.

Though it can be challenging for families when a loved one is suffering from postpartum depression, there are some specific ways for siblings to provide support and seek the support they need.

Postpartum Depression Support for Siblings

If your sibling is suffering from postpartum depression, it can cause a lot of confusion, concern, and even suffering of your own during this time. By educating yourself about postpartum depression and knowing the available resources, you can support your sister as she recovers.

Postpartum Depression Education

Learning about the symptoms, risk factors, treatments, and recovery process for postpartum depression can help you feel better prepared to support your sister in her time of need.

In learning about postpartum depression, you can better understand how this condition develops and which symptoms are common. Knowing what to expect can help alleviate some of the uncertainty of a postpartum depression diagnosis.

Realizing that postpartum depression is not permanent and recovery is possible allows family members to remain supportive and encouraging even when the woman is faced with despair.

Offering Support

A common challenge that family members, including siblings, face when their loved one suffers from postpartum depression is not knowing how to offer support properly. It’s normal for siblings to feel helpless or as though they don’t know what to do even though they want desperately to help.

While postpartum depression affects each woman differently, there are some specific ways to support your sister as she recovers.

First, you must let her know you support her as she seeks treatment. The only way to manage the condition is to seek treatment through medication and therapy actively. By supporting her treatment efforts, you can help her feel more confident in her recovery steps.

Support can also come by filling in around the house, as her depression may prevent her from completing basic tasks at first. By removing the burden of household chores, errands, or other tasks, you can alleviate additional stress and anxiety she may feel.

Finally, support can simply come from continued positive reinforcement and encouragement. Suffering from postpartum depression can cause women to feel hopeless, as though their symptoms may never end. But as her sibling, you can provide support by reminding her that she is taking the correct steps to manage symptoms and heal herself.

Seeking Support

As an immediate family member, siblings often suffer in silence as they struggle with their sister’s condition. Sometimes, siblings don’t get the support they need because they focus on supporting and caring for their sister. During this time, they may neglect their own needs and exhibit their own symptoms of depression or anxiety.

If this is the case, seeking your own support resources is important. Whether it’s through therapy or the support of other family members and friends, taking care of your own health is vital in providing your sister with continued support. If you are struggling, you may be unable to support your sister adequately.

Self-Help for Siblings

As part of seeking support for yourself, it’s important to have deliberate self-care practices in place. Prioritizing self-care and your health are important if you struggle to understand and support your sister’s condition.

Healthy self-care practices for siblings include:

  • Maintaining a healthy diet
  • Ensuring you are getting enough exercise
  • Getting enough rest and staying hydrated

Many family members also stress as someone close to them faces a health challenge. This is why it is important to implement stress-management practices such as:

  • Yoga
  • Meditation and mindfulness
  • Deep breathing and stretching
  • Nature walks and spending time outdoors

Family members can add to their stress by providing round-the-clock care for the mother, eventually leading to burnout and exhaustion.

Instead, work with your sister’s partner or other family members to devise a visit schedule if needed. This can prevent overwhelming both the new mother and other family members.

PostpartumDepression.org Team
Reviewed by:Kimberly Langdon M.D.

Medical Editor

  • Fact-Checked
  • Editor

Kimberly Langdon is a Doctor of Medicine and graduated from The Ohio State University in 1991. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at The Ohio State University Hospitals, Department of OB/GYN. Board-Certified in 1997, she is now retired from clinical practice after a long and successful career. Currently, she is the Founder and Chief Medical Officer of a Medical Device Company that is introducing patented products to treat vaginal microbial infections without the need for drugs. She is an expert in Vaginal Infections, Menstrual disorders, Menopause, and Contraception.

Written by:

Jenna Carberg was diagnosed with postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter in 2016. It was a healthy birth but in the following days, Jenna's mood changed quickly. Doctors suggested that it might be the "baby blues", but her husband Chris suggested she seek a second opinion. Jenna was diagnosed with postpartum depression and began a journey that lasted 9 long months with significant ups and downs. Jenna's mental health care and her experiences became a passion for her to share with the world. She and her husband Chris founded PostpartumDepression.org as a support website designed to help women suffering in silence and their loved ones.

  1. Schneider, A. (2016, April 19). Supporting Someone With Postpartum Depression: What You Can Do to Help. Retrieved from https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/wife-post-partum-depression/