A sense of horror about these obsessions Fear of being left alone with the infant Hyper-vigilance in protecting the infant

It’s important to know that mothers/birthing people with postpartum OCD understand the strange nature of their thoughts and are disturbed by them. Therefore the likelihood of ever acting upon these intrusions is very low.

Compulsions, where the mom may do certain things over and over again to try to reduce her fears and obsessions. This may include things like needing to clean constantly, checking things many times, and counting or reordering things.

Symptoms include: Obsessions also called intrusive thoughts, which are persistent, repetitive thoughts or mental images regarding the baby. These thoughts are very upsetting.

Prenatal and Postpartum OCD Many mothers experience perinatal OCD without ever having any previous diagnosis of an anxiety disorder. You may be experiencing perinatal OCD if you encounter any of the following symptoms during the pregnancy or postpartum period: