Postpartum depression resources for dads
Trusted information for dads, whether you're the one struggling or you're supporting your partner. Need help right now? See crisis lines you can call or text.
For dads
Start here: Postpartum depression in dads: signs, causes and help
Paternal postpartum depression usually shows up within the first year. It can look like anger, withdrawal, overwork, or numbness more than sadness.
What actually helps
- Say it out loud. Tell your partner, a friend, or your doctor how you've really been.
- Get checked. Your own doctor can screen you. Your partner's OB or your baby's pediatrician can point you to someone.
- Talk to other dads. Join our message board, or try a free online group just for fathers from Postpartum Support International (PSI). See our community page.
- Protect the basics. Sleep in shifts, eat real meals, get outside, and go easy on alcohol.
- Use your benefits. Many employers offer a free, confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
Guides for dads
Short, free reads for the things dads actually search for at 2am: the signs in dads, sleep, a baby who won’t stop crying, going back to work, and how to bring it up with a doctor.
Supporting your partner
Start here: How to help your wife or partner with postpartum depression
- Tell her what you're seeing, gently and without blame, and that you're in it together.
- Help her book appointments and get to them. Offer to make the call.
- Protect her sleep. Take a night feed or a solid block of hours.
- Take things off her plate without waiting to be asked.
- Know the warning signs of postpartum psychosis.
- Look after yourself too. Dads whose partners are depressed are at higher risk themselves.
Finding a professional
- PSI provider directory: perinatal mental health specialists near you.
- FindTreatment.gov: SAMHSA's locator for mental health and substance use care.
- Ask for a therapist with "perinatal" or "postpartum" experience. It's fine to say you're the dad.
Organizations
Postpartum Support International
HelpLine, free dad support groups, and a provider directory. The HelpLine is for support and referrals, not emergencies.
postpartum.net988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call, text, or chat any time you need to talk to someone.
988lifeline.orgMaternal Mental Health Hotline
24/7 call or text support for new parents and partners.
Call 1-833-852-6262Veterans Crisis Line
Dial 988 and press 1, text 838255, or chat online. Free, confidential and 24/7 for service members, veterans and their families. You don’t need to be enrolled in VA care.
veteranscrisisline.netPoison Help
Free advice from medical specialists, 24/7, for questions as well as emergencies. If someone has collapsed, isn’t breathing or can’t be woken, call 911 instead.
Call 1-800-222-1222211
Free, confidential, 24/7 help finding local support with rent, utilities, food, diapers, childcare and healthcare. Call or text 211, or search online.
211.orgHeadsUpGuys
Depression in men, not just after a baby: a free self-check, free self-guided courses, recovery stories from other men and a therapist directory.
headsupguys.orgSafe to Sleep
The National Institutes of Health campaign on safe infant sleep, with free materials and a section on infant loss and grief.
safetosleep.nichd.nih.govPrograms for dads
- PSI Help for Dads: free online support groups just for fathers, run by Postpartum Support International.
- Boot Camp for New Dads: a nonprofit workshop where experienced dads teach expecting dads what to expect. Use their locator to check for a class near you, or join their live online version. Fees vary.
- Dads Supporting Dads: free to join. Local dad groups by city, plus groups for new dads, stay-at-home dads, sober dads, separated dads and dads of kids with disabilities. What’s running varies by area, so check what’s active near you.
- Fatherhood.gov: the federal National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse. Its program map finds fatherhood programs near you.
- SAMHSA National Helpline, 1-800-662-4357: free, confidential, 24/7 referrals for mental health and drinking or drug use.
- Paternal mental health fact sheet: a short research summary from the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance. Handy to show a doctor.
- MMHLA's full list of resources for fathers, for even more books, groups and podcasts.
Podcasts
Free episodes where dads talk about what they went through.
- Dads Get Depressed Too: Beyond Postpartum, Pacific Post Partum Support Society. A father shares his depression after his son was born.
- Healing From Paternal Postpartum Depression: Mom & Mind, with Kevin Seldon.
- Paternal Postpartum Depression: Mom & Mind, with Dr David Levine, a pediatrician who went through it himself after both his children.
Books
These cost money to buy, but most libraries carry them or can order them for you for free.
- Daddy Blues: Postnatal Depression and Fatherhood by Mark Williams. One father's own story.
- DAD: Untold Stories of Fatherhood, Love, Mental Health and Masculinity by Elliott Rae. Twenty fathers in their own words.
- The Postpartum Husband by Karen Kleiman. A practical guide for supporting a partner with postpartum depression.
- Fathers and Perinatal Mental Health by Jane Hanley and Mark Williams. More detailed, written for professionals and families.
Know a free resource that helped you? Email info@postpartumfathers.org and we'll look at adding it.
Print and share
At the hospital and at the two-week checkup, the mom gets handed a stack of postpartum information and the dad usually gets nothing. One page on a noticeboard changes that for somebody.
A one-page flyer you can print
Black and white, one sheet, with a QR code to this site and the crisis numbers on it. Print a few and leave them at your pediatrician’s office, your OB’s office, a birth class or a break room.