UK Mother and Baby Units Treat 1,200 Postpartum Psychosis Cases a Year as Clancy Trial Spotlights Gap
Updated
Updated · NBC News · Sep 3
UK Mother and Baby Units Treat 1,200 Postpartum Psychosis Cases a Year as Clancy Trial Spotlights Gap
3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Sep 3
Summary
Britain’s Mother and Baby Units are being held up by doctors and patients as the best treatment model for postpartum psychosis, allowing mothers to receive inpatient psychiatric care without being separated from their babies.
Sofii Lewis, 27, said she and her newborn were admitted within days through the NHS in 2023 and that five months of MBU care likely saved both their lives after she became suicidal and feared harming her daughter.
Experts say the contrast with the U.S. is stark: Britain has about 20 units in England, plus at least two in Scotland and one in Wales, while the U.S. has no comparable nationwide inpatient mother-baby system.
Around 1,200 postpartum psychosis cases are identified in the UK each year; APP says 1 to 5 are linked to suicide and less than 0.05% resulted in infanticide in the decade to 2021.
The debate has intensified as jurors in Lindsay Clancy’s Massachusetts murder trial remained deadlocked for a fifth day, with her defense blaming postpartum psychosis and prosecutors arguing the killings were deliberate.