Having A Baby Makes Some Feel Worse Than Getting Divorced, Study Claims

BOSTON (CBS) - Many people think that having a baby will be the greatest time of their lives, but a new study says, that may be a pipe dream.

Researchers followed more than 2,000 German men and women until two years after the birth of their first child.

They asked them this question, "How satisfied are you with life, all things considered?"

Before the birth of a child, couples were generally happy, but after the bundle of joy arrived, about 70-percent said they were less satisfied with life.

In fact, their happiness rating fell more than when someone loses his job, gets divorced, or suffers the death of a partner.

Gender didn't make a difference and couples pointed to exhaustion, troubles breast-feeding, depression, feeling isolated, and relationship woes as sources of stress.

Experts say this may be the reason why many people stop having kids after their first, a problem in some developed nations where the birth rates remain uncomfortably low.

It may be in the best interest of these countries to make affordable childcare and kindergarten available and to promote parental leave.