Women at risk of mental health problems or with existing conditions should receive more support at every stage of pregnancy and after childbirth, according to new guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice). They spell out how doctors, nurses, health visitors and midwives should help pregnant women, new mothers and those who lose babies deal with mental health issues.

The guidelines come a fortnight after the bodies of Bristol woman Charlotte Bevan and her baby daughter, Zaani Tiana, were found in the Avon gorge after Bevan went missing from a maternity hospital, though they are not being issued in response to the tragedy.

According to the new guidelines, potential mothers-to-be with new, existing or past mental health problems should be advised on how pregnancy and childbirth could affect their mental wellbeing. Mental health professionals should provide detailed advice on benefits or risks to a woman, foetus or baby associated with drug treatments at each stage of pregnancy.

Professor Mark Baker, director of the Nice centre for clinical practice, said: “Mental health problems during and after pregnancy are common. More than one in 10 women will experience depression at some point during their pregnancy. This increases to one in five women during the first year after giving birth.

“During pregnancy and the postnatal period, women may also experience other mental health problems. Giving women the right treatment at the right time can have a profound effect – not just for the mother, but her family too.”

The effect of getting this right can last years, said Baker: “The guidance makes a number of new and updated recommendations, covering not only treatments, but also in providing women who are newly diagnosed or with a history of mental health problems with the information and support they need before they become pregnant.”