'Mental health is a family matter': Breaking the silence on dads who experience baby blues

An estimated one in ten men experience depression during the year after the birth of their child but they are almost invisible to the mental health system 

New fathers often have ‘teething problems’ adjusting to the role. Picture: iStock

“WHAT kind of man gets depressed after having a baby?” A dad uttered these words when interviewed for a 2021 British-based study of fathers’ mental health during the perinatal period.

For Sinéad McGilloway, professor of family and community medicine at Maynooth University, this dad’s question sums up the shame, guilt, and stigma that prevent men from talking about depression in the perinatal phase.