Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ)
Telling your friends and family you’re pregnant will earn you an avalanche of advice. Yet few parents will ever be told about a common experience that can impact the parents’ long-term mental health: perinatal intrusive thoughts.
Intrusive thoughts are sudden, unwanted and often negative. They’re typically about things we fear or don’t want to happen, such as blurting out something inappropriate in a meeting.
In the first year of a child’s life, known as the perinatal period, intrusive thoughts are often about harm to the baby. They can be about accidental harm, such as the baby falling off the change table. They can also be about intentionally harming the baby.
Perinatal intrusive thoughts are highly distressing because they completely contrast with how parents feel about their baby, who they love and want to protect at all costs.
Our new research shows intrusive thoughts are very common, with a majority of birthing parents experiencing them.
The gravity and prevalence of domestic violence makes this hard to talk about – but we need to.
Intrusive thoughts are not associated with actual infant harm, and their prevalence suggests they serve an adaptive function. Scientists suggest they may help parents become more alert and aware of risks and dangers in the care-giving environment.
Here’s what you need to know about perinatal intrusive thoughts – including what’s typical and when to get help.
What we studied and found
Our research asked 439 people who had given birth one to six months ago to complete an online survey, where they reported on their intrusive thoughts.
We found 95% of birthing parents reported intrusive thoughts about accidental harm.
Over half (54%) reported intrusions about intentionally harming their baby. Of these, one in five (21%) reported severe or extreme distress in response to these thoughts.
These findings are consistent with research from Canada and the United States.
Despite how common intrusive thoughts are, parents receive little, if any, education about these experiences in standard perinatal care.
As a result, parents may misunderstand their intrusive thoughts as a sign of being a “bad” or unsafe parent. This can result in distress, unnecessary worry and poorer mental health.
What they’re not
It’s crucial to distinguish perinatal intrusions from other perinatal mental health conditions that pose a risk to the mother, infant, or both – including rarer and severe conditions such as postpartum psychosis and severe depression with suicidality.
Postpartum psychosis affects roughly 1–2 out of 1,000 women after giving birth.
It causes rapid mood swings, hallucinations and delusions that require urgent attention and treatment by appropriately trained mental health professionals.
Severe depression with suicidal thoughts is likely more common after childbirth than postpartum psychosis. Around 4% of new mothers report regular thoughts of suicide.
Telling the difference can be challenging and requires trained mental health professionals – of which there are too few. And because they are so common perinatal intrusions can be present alongside more severe mental health conditions.
But unlike severe depression and psychosis, perinatal intrusions are not accompanied by pervasive mood changes or accompanied by hallucinations or delusions.
These thoughts don’t mean you’re a bad parent
For most parents, perinatal intrusions don’t require treatment and subside as the baby gets older.
But the taboo around talking about perinatal intrusions, especially of intentional harm, means there’s a lot we don’t know about them. It’s unclear, for example, why they’re associated with poorer mental health for some people and not for others.
Our research suggests this may relate to how parents think about or interpret their intrusive thoughts. We found that while nearly everyone experienced perinatal intrusions, people varied in how they interpreted these experiences.
Some people interpreted perinatal intrusive thoughts more negatively – that “having these thoughts means I am a bad parent”. People who had more negative interpretations of their intrusive thoughts, experienced more of these thoughts and felt more distressed by them.
Our findings suggest that changing parents’ interpretations of intrusive thoughts may help prevent the progression to poor perinatal mental health.
How do intrusive thoughts relate to mental illness?
Perinatal intrusions are a core symptom of perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), which affects 2–9% of new parents.
OCD occurs when intrusive thoughts are persistent, time-consuming and significantly interfere with daily functioning. These thoughts are accompanied by compulsive behaviours, such as avoiding situations, seeking reassurance or performing behaviours to reduce anxiety.
OCD can develop for the first time during pregnancy or after giving birth, or continue from before pregnancy.
OCD is treatable, and support can be accessed through a GP, psychologist, or perinatal mental health services.
A key signal for parents and those around them to identify whether their intrusive thoughts may be related to OCD is the amount of time they spend having these thoughts (one hour or more per day) and the extent to which these thoughts interfere with activities they’d usually engage in.
If this sounds like you, talk to your GP or get in touch with services listed at the end of this article.
Intrusive thoughts are also associated with anxiety and depression, which have a heightened prevalence during the perinatal period.
Intrusive thoughts alone do not mean you have anxiety or depression. However, if they occur alongside persistent worry, low mood, loss of interest, feelings of overwhelm, or are interfering with daily life, it may be helpful to speak with your GP, midwife or other health-care professional.
Read more:
Is it anxiety or OCD? 2 psychology experts explain the difference
So what can we do?
Telling expectant parents they are likely to experience these thoughts can be powerful.
This is especially so if we inform parents that these sudden thoughts don’t reflect how they feel about their baby or indicate they are a dangerous parent.
Rather, intrusive thoughts are likely an evolved response that makes them especially attentive to their infant’s safety.
The thoughts will likely still be unpleasant, but this information can help parents interpret them differently.
If this article has raised issues for you, support is available by calling Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia (PANDA) on 1300 726 306 (Mon–Fri 9am–7.30pm, Sat 9am–4pm), ForWhen the Perinatal Depression & Anxiety Helpline on 1300 24 23 22 (Mon–Fri 9am–4.30pm) or Lifeline on 13 11 14 (any day or time).
Susanne Schweizer receives funding from Wellcome Trust and Australian Research Council.
Jodie Pestana is affiliated with Women’s Mental Health Australia.
Original source: https://analysis1.mil-osi.com/2026/11/12/most-new-parents-have-intrusive-thoughts-about-their-baby-being-harmed-its-ok-to-talk-about-it/