Mental Health & Wellbeing
Your wellbeing matters just as much as the practical planning. This is a space to check in with yourself, not another to-do list.
Everyday Wellbeing
It's completely normal to experience a mix of emotions during pregnancy and after your baby arrives, some days calm and connected, others messy or emotional. Small, consistent moments support calm more than any single big fix: accepting help when it's offered, resting when you can, moving gently, eating to nourish, staying connected to people who understand what you're going through.
Understanding Maternal Mental Health
Around 1 in 5 women experience a mental health problem during pregnancy or in the first year after birth, most commonly postnatal depression and anxiety, often overlapping. Fewer than half seek help, often because symptoms feel like "just part of motherhood." Perinatal mental health conditions are common and treatable.
The "Baby Blues"
Feeling tearful, overwhelmed, or unusually emotional in the first 1–2 weeks after birth, linked to hormonal changes and exhaustion. Usually passes within a couple of weeks. If it doesn't lift, or worsens after two weeks, talk to your GP or midwife.
Perinatal / Antenatal Depression
Persistent sadness, hopelessness, or emotional flatness, lasting most days for more than two weeks and affecting daily life. Antenatal depression (during pregnancy) affects around 1 in 8 women and often goes unnoticed.
Perinatal Anxiety
Ongoing or intrusive worry that stops you relaxing, sleeping, or leaving the house, racing thoughts, constant "what if" fears, or physical symptoms like a racing heart.
Postnatal OCD
Unwanted, distressing thoughts about harm coming to your baby that don't reflect your true feelings, sometimes with compulsive checking or repeating actions to relieve anxiety.
Birth Trauma / PTSD
If your birth experience felt frightening or out of control, you may replay memories, have nightmares, or feel on edge when reminded of the event. Treatable with the right support.
Perinatal Psychosis (rare, serious)
Usually appears within days or weeks after birth, hallucinations, delusional thoughts, extreme mood swings, or confusion. This is a medical emergency: call your GP, midwife, or 999 immediately.
Signs it's time to speak to a professional: persistent low mood lasting more than two weeks, feeling detached from your baby or others, loss of interest in daily life, anxious or on edge most of the time, intrusive thoughts, trouble sleeping even when baby sleeps, feeling hopeless or unable to cope, or any thoughts of harming yourself or your baby.
Weekly Self-Care Tracker
Schedule this the way you'd schedule a meeting, even 10 minutes counts.
Check-In Prompts
Use these privately, or as a way to share how things are going with your partner, health visitor, or GP.
What Feels Heavy, and What You Need More Of
This is about noticing, not fixing, be honest without judgment.
Symptom & Mood Tracker
Bring this to your GP, midwife, or health visitor appointments, a simple way to spot patterns early.
Partner & Family, Sharing the Load
Revisit this every few months, roles shift as your baby grows. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not failure.
Conversation Starters for Partners
Review together before maternity leave, and again before your return to work.
On a Hard Week
Not every week goes to plan. Deciding in advance what gets dropped first can be a relief rather than a failure, this is entirely for you, not a standard to hold yourself to.
Guilt vs. Responsibility
Guilt and genuine responsibility can feel identical in the moment. A useful question when guilt shows up: is this actually mine to carry, or does it just feel that way?
Us, After Return
Returning to work changes more than your own routine, worth a conversation with your partner before it happens, not after resentment's had time to build.
Helpline Directory
You are never alone, and help is available. Save these numbers in your phone under "Support."