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I would think that a celebrity has access to a facility that no one in my social circle would. I imagine that in her case, it would be a PPD-specific facility that would assist with childcare and whatever counseling/therapy she needed.

I had PPD and *wanted* to get away from my baby. If it's severe enough, it's probably in everyone's best interest to be checked into a facility.

For many women with severe PPD being away from the baby is in everyone's best interest. Also, her daughter is about 10 months old, so I think that's different than being separated from your newborn.

@jessibear: I don't think the question was meant to judge. When I first heard the story I also immediately had the thought that I didn't realize in patient facilities for PPD existed. That doesn't mean I judge her choice to use one, I just didn't know it was something that was available.

My mom had a friend that had a postpartum psychosis, and she was in a facility - first a hospital and then a nursing home, for a year. So it does exist for severe cases. The baby was a month old when she was first hospitalized.

UNC medical school has a freestanding PPD inpatient unit. They only treat PPD and they encourage children and infants to be present during the day but they are t allowed to stay overnight. Sleep is such an important part of treating PPD so they want to protect it.

My mom had post partum psychosis and was hospitalized for 2 years after my birth. So yes, it happens.

I haven't heard of PPD specific treatment facilities before (and I had quite bad PPD/PPA with DD2). I do however know a woman through a mommy group I'm in whose coping mechanism for her PPD was to have her parents 100% raise her child for the first year of her life despite having a husband, money, etc. It was a bizarre scenario but her daughter is now 6 and everyone seems fine- some people need extreme distance and some need the opposite.

I think it would make sense to check into a safe facility if your PPD is severe enough that you are imagining scenarios in which you harm yourself or your child, or if you are neglecting your child. I never really thought about it, but since inpatient services are widely available for most other mental health issues, why not PPD? I'm sure PPD-specific treatment centers have protocols in place for patients to see their children as much as possible as long as it's deemed safe for all parties.

I never heard of going to rehab for PPD but we don't know how severe she is. It might be better for the mom to be away from the LO. I do think people with money, like a celebrity, can do this, but someone who can't afford it tends to be put in a tough situation. (Actually, I wonder if insurance will cover it, if a dr recommends it.)
Side topic- Whenever I see articles about mothers who kill newborns, instead of judging them, I do wonder if they happen to have a bad case of PPD. Now, if only they had asked for help or someone in their life saw the signs that maybe the death would have been prevented.
Anyway, from my own experience, mental health is a tricky situation and we don't know how severe it is. Good for her for getting help. Oh, maybe she has been seeing a psychiatrist and maybe they both agreed she should go into a treatment facility.

Could be a mother-baby unit?

@FannyMae: the Ministry of Health has just opened a government-funded facility in New Zealand to treat mothers with PPD. They have beds for six or so mother-baby pairs and provide a wrap-around service with nurses, midwives, psychiatrists etc, so that they can provide really effective treatment.

@Kemma: That's awesome! To my knowledge, there aren't many mother-baby units for PPD here in the States.