A survey published in 2009 about Maternal Health in Canada revealed that about 91% of the 6,421 new mothers reported they had enough information about postpartum depression.  91% sure seems like a high number, in fact, the summary of the survey put out by the Public Health Agency of Canada actually says:

"Women reported that they had enough information on basic infant and maternal
care (e.g., infant car seats, birth control, postpartum depression)...".

But when I read the survey results that's not at all what I see.  I see the 9% of new moms who say they <strong>didn't</strong> have enough information about postpartum depression.  Why aren't they talking about the 9% who didn't get "the memo"?!

Here's the thing, if you didn't develop postpartum depression of course you would feel like <strong>any miniscule</strong> amount of information was the right amount of information.  But what about those 9% of women who didn't feel like they had enough information - my guess (and I'll bet your guess too) is that they are precisely<strong> the women who developed a postpartum mood disorder!</strong>
<ul>
	<li>Let's look at the numbers:</li>
</ul>
9% of women = 577 new moms didn't know enough about PPD

7.5% of women = 481 new moms actually had PPD*

8.6% of women = 552 new moms were in the at-risk category*

(*according to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale)

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<ul>
	<li>Let's extrapolate those results to the entire population of Canada:</li>
</ul>
9% of approx 370,000 births in Canada that year = <strong>33,300</strong> new mothers who may have felt like they didn't have enough information about postpartum depression.

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So while the Public Health Department can feel good about 91% I do <strong>NOT</strong> feel one bit good about it.  That number needs to be 100% or else we are doing a disservice to women AND their babies and their families.

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