Online parenting communities can be a good thing, but they can also have some negative effects on people. People can sometimes feel like they are being judged in a bad way and compared to things that they do not want to be compared to. If you are a new parent then it is stressful enough, and if you add the shallow, mean spirited world of social media, then you can be in for a lot more stress.

Key Takeaways:

• Adjusting to life with a newborn is stressful enough, but if a mom is also dealing with a postpartum mood disorder, she may need to proceed with caution when it comes to social media.
• Feeling most alone in the middle of the night, I turned to Facebook mom groups for comfort. It didn’t take long, however, for me to experience the downside.
• Traumatic births, breastfeeding struggles, babies with high medical needs or long bouts of crying as well as a disconnect between expectations and reality can all be risk factors for developing postpartum depression

“Traumatic births, breastfeeding struggles, babies with high medical needs or long bouts of crying as well as a disconnect between expectations and reality can all be risk factors for developing postpartum depression, said Andrea Paterson, a mom in Vancouver and blog editor for the Pacific Postpartum Support Society.”

http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1131552/social-media-affects-postpartum-depression