Maternity blues
Maternity blues, also known as baby blues and postpartum blues, is a transient condition that 75-80% of mothers could experience shortly after childbirth with a wide variety of symptoms which generally involve mood lability, tearfulness, and some mild anxiety and depressive symptoms. Baby blues is not postpartum depression, unless it is abnormally severe.After the placenta is delivered, the placental "hormone factory" shuts down causing radical changes in hormone levels, and the woman can suffer symptoms due to withdrawal from the high pregnancy levels of estrogen, progesterone and endorphins. Combined with this shift in hormone levels is the physical, mental and emotional exhaustion - as well as sleep deprivation typical of parenting a newborn. All of these factors contribute to the condition.
Fetal programming
Stress suffered by the mother during pregnancy can have an adverse effect on the developing baby; it can manifest in the form of early labor and low birth weight, and can also induce a risk for psychiatric complications later in life. The new mother may suffer from after-effects too, such as postpartum depression, and subsequently may find parenting more difficult as compared to those who did not experience as much stress during their pregnancies.