Postpartum anxiety
& intrusive thoughts.

Extremely common. The large majority of new parents have unwanted, upsetting thoughts about harm coming to their baby, often with themselves in the picture. They’re a symptom of a brain on high alert, not a reflection of what you want. The fact that they horrify you is the tell. I have heard them before, and you will not be judged or reported for telling me.

They overlap. Postpartum OCD is intrusive thoughts plus compulsions to make the anxiety go away: checking the monitor again and again, avoiding the stairs or bath time, needing constant reassurance, rituals that have to be done “right.” Both respond to the same kind of treatment, and sorting out which you have is part of our first conversations, not something you need to decide alone.

Yes. It often begins in the first weeks, but it can show up any time in the first year or beyond. Going back to work, a sleep regression, starting solids, the baby becoming mobile: each one hands your brain a new set of dangers to scan for.

Not by trying harder to stop; that feeds it. Worry is your mind’s attempt to prevent bad outcomes, and it doesn’t work. In therapy you learn to let uncertainty exist without checking, googling, or asking for reassurance, and to put your attention back on the baby in front of you. That turns out to be far more protective than vigilance.

Only ones that are realistic, safe, and chosen together: leaving her with your partner for twenty minutes, cutting the nighttime checks from eight to six, not opening Google for an hour. Nothing is forced and nothing involves a real hazard. It’s gradual, and it works.

Those things are real and rare, and we’ll make sure your reasonable precautions are in place: safe sleep, car seat checks, the basics. Then we work on the part anxiety adds: overestimating how likely it is and underestimating how well you’d cope. The goal is a mom who can take sensible care and still rest.

Yes, please. There are babies in my office most weeks. For postpartum anxiety specifically, having her there sometimes lets us work on things in real time.

It shouldn’t. Appropriate medication takes the edge off the worry and the physical symptoms while leaving you fully present. I don’t prescribe, but I coordinate with prescribers who know perinatal care, and plenty of moms do very well with therapy alone.

Many moms notice some relief within a few weeks as the first tools take hold. I usually tell people they feel substantially like themselves by the third month. We meet weekly for the first 8 to 12 weeks, then taper. Setbacks during stressful stretches are normal and don’t erase the progress.

I’m an out-of-network provider. You pay at the time of the session and I give you a monthly superbill to submit to your insurance; many PPO plans reimburse a portion. Current fees are on the fees and insurance page, and the first 15-minute consultation is free.