Anxiety Related to Infant Care

Although all mothers experience anxiety regarding care of the baby some women have severe anxiety. This may happen as part of postpartum depression or if the mother has had a difficult childbirth. It may be related to the infant's health. For e.g. If the infant has a medical problem or is premature, the mother may get overly anxious. If the mother has been having anxiety during pregnancy it may worsen during postpartum or anxiety symptoms may start during postpartum period. During pregnancy too, women may experience anxiety.

The anxiety may be related to fetal health, adapting to changes that happen during pregnancy, or anxiety related to labour pains. Women may have extreme fear of labor and may be constantly pre-occupied. You may need to seek help for these fears.

Anxiety can manifest as inability to rest, feeling tense, checking on the baby too frequently, worrying excessively over small issues and being irritable. You may experience bodily symptoms of anxiety like increased heart beats, trembling, sweating  etc. You may also get repeated thoughts which makes you feel uncomfortable but you are unable to stop them.. If the problems start interfering with the mother’s health or infant care, you may need  to seek help.