Why Rachel Platten Thought She Had Postpartum Depression
How Rachel Platten Confused Postpartum Depression With This Other Common Struggle
Rachel Platten, the singer of "Fight Song" and a brand-new mom to a 3-week-old daughter named Violet Skye, has been very candid about her experience as a mom — we see you, breast pump selfie! — particularly when it comes to some of the harder parts. Recently, the award-winning artist partnered with Pampers to promote its ultrasoft diapers — after all, she wore 'em as a baby herself! — and opened up to POPSUGAR for the very first time since giving birth. From picking out the perfect name to dealing with postbirth hormones, the 37-year-old first-time mom laid it all on the table.
"The emotional roller coaster that happens after labor [was challenging]," she told us. "The hormones and the dips in hormones, I cried for like three days, and I asked some friends, 'Is this postpartum depression? Do I have that?' They all were like, 'Oh sweetie, no, no, no. It's just sleep deprivation, it's completely normal.'"
While some women get the shakes during childbirth and others are just downright starving, Rachel wishes she'd known just how intense the hormonal changes can get.
"I cried for like three days, and I asked some friends, 'Is this postpartum depression? Do I have that?'"
"This is hormones dipping, this is what happens, and it's really overwhelming," she said. "I wasn't quite prepared for that; I wish that I had known that that was more normal. I wish I had seen on social media more moms talk about that. Just how hard and just completely all-encompassing it is physically, and your body. And then you have this little thing that needs you for life, so that part was really tough."
Fortunately, Rachel has a good support system in place, and after a few hours of sleep, she eventually began to feel better.
"Thank God when I finally got a good stretch of sleep, I woke up and I was like, 'I'm OK. OK. That was just . . . that was sleep deprivation,'" she said. "But for some moms, it's real. [For] some moms, that feeling lasts, and I think the more that we talk about it as moms and normalize it, the better, so everyone understands they're not alone."
Congrats to her sweet family. We hope little Violet is living it up in her favourite diapers!
