WITH one new mum in every ten suffering with post-natal depression, new ways to overcome this worrying condition are always being sought.

Now researchers have discovered that singing in a group may help the symptoms.

Researchers found that mothers who participate in group singing sessions with their baby were able to overcome PND symptoms more quickly than those who did not.

Helen Tate, who leads two Music With Mummy groups in Poole, including one called Jolly Babies, agrees that this type of therapy may help.

“Obviously I don’t know if the mothers who come to me have PND but I do know they seem to really enjoy coming and spending time with their baby in a place where they don’t have to worry about anything else,” she said.

The new study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, examined 134 mothers with post-natal depression.

They were split into three groups to assess whether singing could reduce their symptoms in the first 40 weeks after birth.

One group of women received the usual care, another group took part in group creative play workshops and the final group received 10 weeks of singing workshops.

In these singing workshops, mothers listened and learned new songs as well as creating new songs reflecting motherhood.

The authors found that those with moderate to severe post-natal depression in the singing group reported a much faster improvement in their symptoms than mothers in the usual care group.

Helen Tate said: “Signing has been proven to help with general depression, the very act of singing will help; singing for fun or learning new songs with me to sing with their babies is something I hope that helps mums.

“If baby is happy, mum is happy – you often see mothers’ faces light up, along with their baby’s during a session. I think singing helps takes mums out of themselves and appreciate the baby for what he or she is.”

Principal investigator Dr Rosie Perkins, a research fellow at the Centre for Performance Science acknowledged that PND was debilitating for mothers and their families.

“Yet our research indicates that for some women something as accessible as singing with their baby could help to speed up recovery at one of the most vulnerable times of their lives," she said.

*musicwithmummy.co.uk/poole