Between tracking ovulation and undergoing treatments, trying to conceive can be a strenuous and stressful situation, especially if you aren’t successful. It can even be so emotionally taxing that women undergoing the process can even develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In a recent study, researchers surveyed 142 people who had undergone fertility treatments. Of the participants, 46 percent met the criteria for PTSD, meaning they could be diagnosed with the condition. Compared to the eight percent of the general population that suffers from PTSD, that’s quite a jump. Some of the common symptoms were feeling upset at reminders of their infertility, such as seeing commercials for baby diapers, feeling distant or cut off from people, or feeling hopeless.

The study’s lead researcher, Allyson Bradow, hopes this leads to a change in definition for PTSD and more discussion about the issue.

“The definition of trauma should be expanded to include expectations of life,” said Bradow, who went through fertility treatments herself. “Having children, expanding your family, carrying on your genetic code — that’s an instinctual drive that we have as human beings. And when that is being threatened, it’s not necessarily your life being threatened, but your expectation of what your life can be or should be like.”

Bradow believes that anyone undergoing fertility should be required to attend counseling. After all, the stress of infertility takes a psychological toll as well as a physical.

Do you think women who are trying to conceive should be provided therapy?

Plus more from The Bump:

Undergoing Fertility Treatments? You May Need to Try, Try Again

How to Deal When Everyone Else Is Pregnant (and You’re Still Trying)

How Much Fertility Treatments Cost

Could staying at home with baby put you at higher risk for depression? A new Gallup poll suggests it could. For the poll, women from three different groups — stay-at-home moms, working moms and women without children — were asked questions about their own emotions and lives. Working moms reported similar rates of sadness and anger as women without children did, while stay-at-home moms has slightly higher levels of those emotions. The biggest difference, however, was in stay-at-home moms’ reported feelings of depression. 28 percent of them said they’d felt depressed, while only 17 percent of working moms and 17 percent of women without children did.

Those who seemed to have it worst were those with low incomes. When asked if they were struggling, the women with lower household incomes (under $35,000 per year) were most likely to say they were. The stay-at-home moms who were in the low income category were also less likely to say they smiled or laughed a lot, learned something interesting, experienced enjoyment or experienced happiness than the low-income working moms and low-income childless women did.

Do you work or stay at home? How do you think your employment status affects your happiness?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Checklist: Decide Whether to Work or Stay at Home

Postpartum Depression

Back to Work Guide for New Moms

Some people say “never wake a sleeping baby,” but some moms actually do this a lot. And that could be a result of postpartum depression. According to a new study from Penn State University published in Child Development, moms with depression symptoms were worried and anxious about their infants’ sleeping habits at night, and were more likely than moms with fewer or no symptoms to wake their babies and disturb them.

Pediatricians urge parents not to wake their baby if he’s sleeping peacefully, isn’t experiencing distress and doesn’t need a feeding. Experts note that parental depression or excessive worry, disrupts both baby and parents’ sleep and also can lead to problems in the parent-child relationship later on. So why are depressed moms more anxious about baby sleeping at night than other moms? Researchers believe that the mothers’ symptoms of depression are directly related to moms’ lack of confidence in parenting and their emotional state.

The findings were part of a larger analysis, Study of Infants’ Emergent Sleep Trajectories (SIESTA). In the larger study, researchers analyzed data from 45 infants (ranging in age from one to 24 months) and their parents over a week. The mothers kept a sleep diary and also completed two surveys, one about depressive symptoms and the other about moms’ worries about their infants waking up at night. Researchers also set up video cameras where baby slept, at the door to baby’s room and two additional cameras where parents would take their babies at night, to see if the moms’ self-reported behaviors matched up to their survey answers.

If you think you might have postpartum depression, it’s important to seek help immediately. Talk to your doctor asap.

What do you think of these findings? Do you wake your baby up at night? Or worry about baby’s sleeping safety at bedtime?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Postpartum Depression

Is it the Baby Blues or Postpartum Depression?

Treatments for Postpartum Depression