It can be true hell for mums coming to terms with looking after a new baby.
Now Suzanne Shaw has bravely revealed she suffered postnatal depression.
Her mental anguish began following the birth of her first son, Corey and the trauma scarred her for years.
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Even by the time she gave birth to second son, Rafferty, she was still scared of how her body and mind would react and she fought hard to ward off the black moods she’d experienced before.
Speaking to Closer, she said: “I was trying to do everything in my power to avoid getting it again: breastfeeding, exercising, eating healthily.
“When I had Corey [with ex Darren Day] I was 23 and a single mum, so after Raffi was born [in October 2015] I really thought I’d avoid it, because I had a stable family set up.”
Suzanne suffered depression in 2012 when her father, Vincent, died but she still didn’t realise what was going on when her emotions changed again after Rafferty was born.
She explained: “Raffi had so many allergies when he was born and struggled with feeding, and it took more than six months to get to the bottom of that.
“It was really tough and he constantly cried. So when I started to not feel like myself, I put it down to that.
“Then, last summer, I started getting really paranoid and stopped going out.
“I didn’t want to see my friends or go to baby groups or anything.
“Everything felt like hard work and I’d cry before Sam went to work because I was so worried about being left alone with Raffi.”
The symptoms of postnatal depression can be hard to spot because, after all, new mums are expected to be tired and new parents can be frightened by the pressure of looking after their new family.
But the symptoms include, a persistent feeling of sadness and low mood, lack of energy and feeling tired all the time and difficulty making a motherly bond with your baby.
Suzanne says things kept getting worse but her mum jumped in to help and made her go to the doctor.
There, she was prescribed antidepressants and counselling.
She explained to the magazine: “Things got so dark, then one day Sam was off work and I just couldn’t get out of bed…I thought I’ve got two children, I can’t let this get the better of me.
“The doctor was amazing. He was so supportive and caring.
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“I was hesitant to go on medication again as I know how hard it can be to stop taking it, but I had to keep reminding myself that I was just taking a painkiller for the mind.
“Looking back, I can’t believed I waited a few months to get help.”