Health visitors say they try and support mothers in their homes

Clinicians say between 10 and 20% of mothers in the county are affected by the condition.

One expert says having a specialised unit would allow mothers to bond with their children with less pressure.

Health visitors say they try to keep women in the community as long as possible and there is adequate support for most people.

Our teams would do everything they could to support that woman staying in her own home, in her own environment supported by her own family Chris Nash, lead practitioner

Mel Fletcher, from Porthleven, had postnatal depression for two years. She said there needed to be a better understanding of the condition.

She said: "I felt really ashamed at the time. It was quite embarrassing and I didn't want to tell people.

"There's a huge stigma attached to depression anyway. But when you're a mum, I think you're expected to just doing everything naturally and not have too many problems or have to seek help."

Verity Reed Hall, who runs a postnatal depression support website from her home in west Cornwall, wants a dedicated centre for women with severe cases of the illness, so they can recover and care for their baby at the same time.

She said: "In Cornwall, there is nowhere a mother can go with her baby if she needs to be admitted to a psychiatric unit, and it isn't uncommon for it to be that severe during the initial phases.

"If they go into a psychiatric unit, they can't go in with their baby, which is the worst thing you can do.

"A unit would allow a woman to look after her child with full support of professional people 24 hours a day."

The lead practitioner for health visitors in Cornwall, Chris Nash, said: "We've had very few cases severe enough where the mother and baby have had to be parted.

"Our mental teams would do everything they could to support that woman staying in her own home, in her own environment supported by her own family."

Cornwall's health visitors will soon start a new initiative whereby they will visit pregnant women from 28 weeks in an attempt to pick up any behaviour which may signal postnatal depression.