Coming Out of the Darkness of Postpartum Depression

When Sylvia Lasalandra-Frodella gave birth 10 years ago, she knew something was wrong. 

"I didn't have that immediate bond with my daughter after she was born," Lasalandra-Frodella told Patch. "I thought, what am I going to do? And I sunk into a dark abyss of depression." 

She brought the baby home from the hospital and was greeted by excited relatives who came to welcome the new member of the family.  

"I was a zombie leaving the hospital," the Franklin Lakes mom recalled. "When I got home, I handed the baby to my mom and ran upstairs and cried. My parents raised her for the first nine months of her life." 

Today, we know that Lasalandra-Frodella was experiencing postpartum depression, but a decade ago, the condition that affects up to one in five new mothers wasn't a household name. In fact, she found just two books on the subject at Barnes and Nobles, one by Marie Osmond and the other by a doctor that was  on the subject.

"Once I healed, I discovered so many other women who suffered in silence," she said. "I couldn't not help." 

And so she wrote her first book, A Daughter's Touch, in 2005. It is currently in its fifth printing and was translated into Spanish last year because "there's not a lot of resources for women with PPD in the Latino community."

Her second book, Mommy Were You Happy The Day I Was Born, is the first-ever children's book about PPD. The 32-page color illustrated book that was released earlier this month helps women who were affected by depression explain it to their children. 

"There is so much guilt and stigma attached to it," Lasalandra-Frodella explained. "There's the worry that I wasn't there for my baby. And the book helps to address that by saying, Whatever I went through, I still loved you."

For women who are affected with PPD, Lasalandra-Frodella recommends women get help. She has been helping women with PPD through support groups and also by lobbying for the Mothers Act, a bill requiring postpartum depression screening and education for new mothers that passed last year. 

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services has a 24-hour hotline for women with postpartum depression and other perinatal mood disorders. If you or someone you love has a problem, call 1-800-328-3838. More information, including a checklist of symptoms and warning signs of PPD and PMD, is available at the state's website.