There are few sensations more wonderful than a cuddle with your new baby. But what happens if you burst into tears every time you re-live your baby's birth? If you spend your day staring at the wall instead of enjoying outings together? If you find yourself crying with exhaustion when faced with a screaming baby at 4am? For some women, becoming a parent can be unexpectedly hard. With today's high expectations of motherhood, there is still a taboo about not loving your baby at birth, or finding some aspects of motherhood boring and miserable. Postnatal depression (PND) affects around one in six new mothers, while it's estimated that up to 200,000 women each year may feel traumatised by childbirth, with feelings of fear, guilt, anxiety, and symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares and persistent memories of birth. This book explores how to cope with such feelings, and how to make a successful and happy adjustment to motherhood even when it doesn't come naturally at first. Topics include: Defining birth trauma and postnatal depression When bonding doesn't happen - learning to love your baby Family relationships and how they may change You and your partner - how your relationship changes once you have a baby Body image - how a baby changes your body; social pressures on your body Coming to terms with your new identity Moving forward You can't change society and its often unrealistic expectations and stereotypes of motherhood, but one day everything will fall into place and you will come to love your new baby and feel confident in your new role.

Drug addiction is no longer - if indeed it ever has been - a problem confined to tower blocks and prisons. With an estimated 250,000 problematic drug users in the UK in every section of society, the UK has the highest levels of addiction and multi-drug consumption and the second-highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe, according to a report on behalf of the UK Drug Policy Commission. Whether it's a son, husband, daughter or mother, having a problematic drug user in the family is disastrous. Family members have to deal with questions they never dreamed they'd have to answer. Should you continue to allow a drug user to live with you? What should you do if he or she steals from you? What's the best way to encourage him or her to seek treatment? Can you help him or her 'detox' by yourself? What are the health risks to the addict and his family? Why has he or she become addicted in the first place? And, most importantly, what help is available to help your family get through this? This book provides a simple, non-ideological guide for people whose families are affected by drug use.

Children are wonderful. That's why we have them. But what about the negative feelings that are the flip side of motherhood? When you are bruised, battered or worse after the birth, and feel that life has been reduced to a cycle of feeding and changing; of lonely days and endless nights? As many as 3 in 10 new mothers are affected by depression, so you are not alone - this book is written to help cope you with these feelings, and to enable you to make a happy and successful adjustment to motherhood. It will give you advice on how to come to terms with a traumatic birth and help you understand what postnatal depression is - and isn't. You can learn to love your baby, even if you're struggling to bond, and you can also come to terms with the new dynamics within your family and your relationship with your partner as you adjust to a different world, with a changed body and new priorities. You can't change society and its often-unrealistic expectations of motherhood, but with the help offered in this book you can come to feel more confident in your new role, and in your love for your baby.