Whatever the media may have you believe and the perceptions that popular images of a new mother may try to convey, large number of new mothers suffer through depression and severe mood swings and easy irritability shortly after the birth of a new baby.

Jhanvi Makhija, a housewife and freelance web designer, felt terribly weepy after giving birth to her son. "I couldn't understand why I was so depressed. I just cried and cried often and I didn't know why", she said in an interview. And Jhanvi is not alone in experiencing this.

As many as 90% women become sad, irritable and teary within few days of the delivery of a baby. This contrasts with the usual expectation that a new mother must be riding on the soft cloud of bliss after giving birth to a child now that her wish and dream has come true.

Sudden drop in progesterone and estrogen levels in the body are the main reason for the depression but there are other factors at work too.

The sudden shift of spotlight on the new born baby after being pampered and cared for months can cause jealousy in women which they find that very few around them including husbands sympathize with.

On top of that, many women suffer several pains and aches after the delivery. With so much going on physically, they can hardly be expected to be in superb cheerful mood. And sudden realization on a woman's part that her life as she knew it has ceased to exist causes sudden panic inside her. This is a totally new life filled with nappies, breasfeeding, lying in bed while her personal goals and ambitions hang in a limbo makes her resentful about her decision to have a baby. This is compounded by the fact that her friends and other people seem to be carrying on with their lives as usual and as before.

The top most thing on a working woman's mind is her career and how she will cope with it with a child also to take care of. This coupled with the fact that her husband's career is less affected by this birth causes a bit of grudge in her when she sees him leaving for his job as usual.

Also many women feel that they are no more as attractive as they used to be. A new mother often thinks she has become fat, her earlier shape has changed and that suddenly she has aged. Though all these symptoms disappear after a few months when she regains her shape and starts her exercise routine once again. But in the meanwhile, terrible mood swings set in.

Husbands and other family members need to become aware of this postnatal depression in new mothers and help the women cope with it through warmth, pampering and understanding.