Q: My 35 years old wife was blessed with a son five moths back. We also have a 4-year-old daughter. In the hospital at night, a nurse asked her to take the baby for a check up and as she was unable to do so, the nurse took the child. Within 3-4 minutes my wife ran to doctor’s chamber but from that day she has a fear that our son has been changed. The nursing home is a reputed one and our son looks like other family members. All the family members know that her confusion is wrong. But now she is very upset and has a sleeping disorder. Is it a sign of phobia/ neurological problem or hormone problem occurring due to pregnancy? Once she visited a Psychiatrist but he refused to prescribe any medicine and asked her to visit only when she is unable to bear the tension. Will the problem resolve with time?

A:Sorry to hear about your difficulties. Psychological disorders after childbirth is very well known phenomenon, can occur in many forms, one of the form is anxiety and phobia. There are various factors, which contribute towards it, change in hormones is one of them along with stress of childbirth, social pressures, disfigurement, lack of physical rest.

My advice would be to get her assessed thoroughly by a local psychiatrist and ongoing counselling may take care of this.

You have not mentioned her behaviour towards the child, is she feeding and caring for him? That may give you the indication of severity of the problem.