Parents of twins, triplets, and other multiple births have higher risks of depression and anxiety than most other parents, new research has found.
Almost half (48 percent) of the multiple birth parents in the study suffered extreme mental health issues – particularly in the first three months – but only 10 percent received care.
The paper comes amid a widespread push for post-natal mental health care, with new ACOG guidelines suggesting all mothers should be seen within six weeks – not three months – of giving birth.
However, the US researchers behind the new study insist particular attention needs to be paid to parents who have more than one child at the same time.
The issue is particularly pertinent now with the sharp rise in multiple births as more couples turn to fertility treatments to conceive.
The Brown University study comes amid a push for post-natal mental care, with new rules for parents to be seen within a month, not three, of birth. But more is needed for multiples’ parents
‘There is a large, unmet need for mental health treatment in parents of multiples in the perinatal period, especially the early postpartum months,’ said lead authors Cynthia Battle, of Brown University, and Susan Wenze, of Lafayette College.
The psychiatry and psychology team assessed 241 parents, including 197 mothers and 44 spouses or partners.
Forty-eight percent said they wish they had received mental health care to help cope with the stresses in the first months or year of parenthood, which caused anxiety and depression, and put strain on their relationships.
Just 10 percent of the cohort had received mental health care, the majority of whom were treated for depression.
There was general consensus across the board that the first three months were the hardest for multiple birth parents.
In those first three months, 25 percent suffered generalized anxiety disorder (apprehension and uncertainty), while 15 percent suffered major depressive disorder (hopelessness and feeling of certain doom, without worry).
All of them suffered poor sleep, though mothers had it more severely, and all of them said they struggled to find time to seek out mental health care due to their busy schedules.
As the team expected, all of these mental health issues were most common in unmarried, single parents.
But single or not, most parents (two thirds of the group) said no healthcare provider warned them about mental health issues they may face after the birth.
The research team, who published their study in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice this month, recommended investing more in online services to help multiple birth parents get mental health care into their busy schedules.
‘We recommend that healthcare providers attend carefully to parents of multiples’ mental health during pregnancy and the early postpartum periods, and proactively integrate discussion of perinatal mental health concerns into their prenatal care regimens,’ they wrote.