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Winnipeg baby's death sparks call for more postpartum help for new moms

Experts in postpartum depression are calling for more supports for struggling mothers after another baby death in Winnipeg.

"I have extreme sadness, profound sadness, that another mom has gone through this. Obviously we still need to address greater supports for moms who suffer postpartum and postpartum psychosis," said Tara Brousseau Snider, executive director of the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba.

She noted 80 per cent of new mothers experience difficulties in the days and weeks after giving birth and up to 20 per cent of new moms will have periods where they think about harming their children or themselves.

"It's incumbent on all of us to do more. And we really, as a community, need to step up and place greater importance on all of our moms who are going through postpartum," she said.

Winnipeg police announced Wednesday that a 44-year-old mother is charged with killing her two-month-old daughter.

Sources have told CBC News the baby had Down syndrome and the baby's father said his wife suffered from postpartum depression.

Brousseau Snider said it is likely the Down syndrome could have made the mother feel even more overwhelmed but there were probably other factors as well.

"We've started to educate doctors to a greater extent [about postpartum depression]. We've held symposiums, we've been doing more but oh my goodness, we still need to do a lot more when this continues to happen," she said.

Val Surbey with the Manitoba Down Syndrome Society said having a child with down syndrome is difficult at first, but "it does get better. It really does get better."

She said there is help available to families who are struggling.

"There are families out there who are prepared to raise our children and to those that are overwhelmed," said Surbey.

Gibson case leads to phone line

In July 2013, the body of 32-year-old Lisa Gibson was found in the Red River a few kilometres downstream from her home in the city's Westwood area. Several days earlier her two-year-old daughter and three-month-old son were found critically injured in the bathtub.

The children later died in hospital and police determined their deaths were homicides. Postpartum depression was being investigated as one of the factors in the deaths, which were all deemed to be due to drowning, police said.

Following the tragedy involving Gibson and her children, the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba set up a phone line to help depressed moms. That number is 204-391-5983.

"I thought we'd get a lot of moms calling [but] what we get is dads calling. And as a result it's the dads who are going to notice it. Quite often the moms don't realize they're feeling so badly," Brousseau Snider said.

Family members who notice something in a new mother should immediately talk to their family doctor and the public health nurses, she said.

"We need to have more supports in the home — extend the support system so there are more things available, whether it's help with the baby or education or to give the mom time to sleep or do her own care."

And there needs to be an increase in public awareness that postpartum does exist, Brousseau Snider added.

"There are 10,000 births in Winnipeg a year. Two thousand of those moms are going to have some degree of postpartum. Seven thousand are going to have baby blues," she said.

Brousseau Snider encourages anyone who knows a new mother to ask if she needs help.

Brousseau Snider said a coalition of organizations submitted a proposal to the Province of Manitoba in January for a centre dedicated to helping women with postpartum depression.

She said there's been no response from the government yet, but she's hopeful the proposal will one day become a reality.