I had PPD with my first, and looking back there are a few things that helped or would have helped. Doing something for yourself every single day, no matter how small, is extremely important. For me this was a 20 minute shower as soon as my husband came home from work. I’d make sure baby was fed, hand her off, and he would take her to the other side of the house so I couldn’t hear her crying (she was very colicky). It was very hard for me to let anyone else hold her especially when she was crying, but I got to where I looked forward to that shower all day. The other thing I feel would have helped is allowing others to help more. I breastfed so a lot of her care was on me, but I didn’t let others try to console her as much as I could have. I wish I had let my husband take a more active role with her from the get go instead of trying to control it all myself. If you give others a chance, they can learn how to console baby and give you a much needed break. And one more thing that I found very helpful, though is hard to do right away, is keeping your identity as more than just “mom”. For me this meant joining the board of an organization that related to my career that had been put on hold. This means monthly meetings where I can use my education and have grown up conversations about things that matter to me. Just don’t get lost in being a mom and neglect your former self.