Before becoming a mother, Saejal Ohri had never been all that into babies. ?I mean, I thought they were cute, but I was never that twenty-something woman saying, ?Oh my gosh, I absolutely can?t wait to have a baby!?? says Ohri, a mom of one from Vaughan, Ontario. ?Until I was married in my early 30s, I didn?t feel that pull at all.? Even after Ohri and her husband decided to have a child and she became pregnant, Ohri, remembers worrying that she didn?t have ?that mothering instinct you hear about? and that she wouldn?t know how to care for a helpless infant.
Batya Grundland, a family doctor and the maternity care lead at Women?s College Hospital Family Practice in Toronto, says it?s common for mothers-to-be (and fathers-to-be) who haven?t had a lot of experience with babies to worry about whether they?ll know what to do when the baby arrives.  She says that especially among women like Ohri, who love their jobs and independence and who may have consciously delayed having children while focusing on other important life goals, ?there is this sense that they?re used to being really competent in other areas of their lives, and they are worried they won?t be as good at this.? In her practice, Grundland first tries to figure out whether a patient experiencing these kinds of worries could be experiencing symptoms of a mood disorder. ?If the anxiety is consistently interrupting your sleep and interfering with everyday life and relationships, those are warning signs,? says Grundland...