MORE than one in five new mums struggles to bond with their newborn.
Many are crippled by emotional and mental health problems around the birth.
Experts say up to a third of mums claim the baby blues have left them feeling unable to care for tots.
But the NHS is letting down thousands.
Two in five women admitted mental strains damaged their relationship with their partner.
The National Childbirth Trust questioned 1,000 mums.
About 700,000 tots are born each year.
The charity estimates half of new mums suffer an emotional or mental health problem during pregnancy or within a year of birth.
This can include postnatal depression, post-traumatic stress, anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder.
Some feel suicidal and only half get help.
Sarah McMullen, of the NCT said: “There are still whole areas of the country with no specialist mental health services for mums.”
Libby Binks, 37, of Yorkshire, said postnatal depression meant she could not wait to hand over daughter Chloe to her husband.
She said: “I felt the best thing would be for me to disappear.”
She paid for private therapy.
Yorkshire mum-of-one Libby Binks, 37, said postnatal depression meant she could not wait to hand her baby daughter Chloe over to her husband.
She said: “I would find any excuse and I felt a huge sense of relief when he was responsible for her.
“But the more I pushed her away the worse I felt.
“I struggled to cope from the day she was born.”
After a traumatic birth, Libby struggled to breastfeed Chloe, now three.
Things got so bad she admits: “I felt the best thing would be for me to ‘disappear’ and leave them both to it.
“They would be better off without me.”
After health visitors failed to get Libby the help she needed on the NHS, she paid for private counselling.
“I am finally feeling better.
“But I wish I’d had that help two and a half years ago.”
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