Mom with perinatal anxiety holding baby hand

Perinatal Anxiety Counselling

Having a baby can bring incredible love, but it can also bring worry, uncertainty and a level of anxiety you may not have expected.

Perinatal anxiety can happen during pregnancy or after your baby arrives. You may find yourself constantly worrying about your pregnancy, your baby, your health, parenting, or whether you are doing things “right.” Sometimes the anxiety feels obvious. Other times, it looks like overthinking, checking, researching, reassurance-seeking, or simply feeling like you can never fully relax.

You don't have to wait until anxiety becomes overwhelming to reach out for support.

You might be experiencing:

Constant worry about your baby or pregnancy
Racing thoughts or difficulty “turning your brain off”
Fear that something bad will happen
Intrusive or unwanted thoughts
Excessive checking or reassurance-seeking
Anxiety about your baby's health or development
Fear of childbirth or medical appointments
Worry about your ability to be a good parent
Difficulty sleeping because of anxious thoughts
Feeling on edge, overwhelmed or unable to relax
Anxiety about leaving your baby with someone else
Feeling like you need to do everything perfectly
Worry that you're not enjoying motherhood the way you “should”

You might be thinking:

“Why can't I just enjoy this?”
“What if something happens to my baby?”
“What if I can't handle this?”
“Why does my brain keep thinking about the worst-case scenario?”

Together, we can work on:

Understanding your anxiety and what may be triggering it
Managing racing thoughts and excessive worry
Coping with uncertainty without constantly seeking reassurance
Navigating intrusive thoughts without feeling defined by them
Building practical strategies for moments when anxiety feels overwhelming
Challenging the pressure to be a “perfect” parent
Reconnecting with yourself beyond your role as a parent
Developing greater confidence in your ability to cope

Perinatal anxiety can look different depending on where you are in your journey. During pregnancy, anxiety may centre around your health, your baby's wellbeing, pregnancy complications, birth, or fears that something could go wrong. After your baby arrives, anxiety may shift toward feeding, sleep, illness, development, safety, or the enormous responsibility of caring for another person. And sometimes, anxiety begins after a previous experience with infertility, miscarriage, pregnancy loss, a difficult birth, or another significant experience. Even when everything is going well, your nervous system may still be waiting for something to go wrong.

Kerri Mooney Counselling offers virtual perinatal anxiety counselling across Ontario, providing a comfortable and accessible way to receive support during pregnancy and early parenthood.

Whether you're struggling with anxiety during pregnancy, postpartum anxiety, intrusive thoughts, birth anxiety, or the constant mental load of early parenthood, therapy can give you a place to put it all down for a while. You don't have to carry the worry alone.

Book Here