Patients suffering from a severe psychiatric postpartum disorder (n = 119) were classified according to early onset (EO) of symptoms, i.e. onset within 2 weeks postpartum, versus late onset (LO) in the 3-month period following delivery. The patients were admitted for the first time in their life to a psychiatric hospital. The EO cases more often had a manic syndrome, the symptomatology of cycloid psychoses, signs of confusion and an abrupt onset of illness. They were also younger at the index delivery and at the first episode of illness. No important difference in the distribution of diagnoses considering the long-term course was found in the two groups. The global psychopathological outcome was also similar. There is no definite evidence that different diseases are provoked in the early and later postpartum period.