Soon, according to a number of studies on the postpartum period, the health of many new mothers begins to erode. Dad's health and mood can slip as well. And the marriage, studies find, isn't as satisfactory as it once was. The focus has been on the arrival of the baby. According to Kohan, an expert in postpartum mood disorders, the major obstacle in adjusting to parenthood occurs when one's expectations don't match reality.
Experienced parents can attest to the challenges during baby's first year.
Jackie Miller can look back and laugh ruefully over how her preconceived notions of motherhood clashed with the real thing. The Long Beach woman gave birth to son James five months ago. I was naive. Even being warned that parenthood was hard had not prepared her. I had feelings of being incompetent as a mother.