Maternity blues 50 per cent of women experience mild depression following childbirth, starting on the second or third day and usually lasting for only a few days. About 10 per cent of mothers face rather more severe depression after the birth, either quite soon or after some weeks. This can last months or a year, with certain cases of more prolonged suffering. Post-natal or puerperal psychosis, affecting only three in every thousand women is a serious, though fairly rare complication, often with