{"id":289123,"date":"2026-02-09T18:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289123\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T18:05:11","slug":"49-of-canadian-new-moms-struggle-with-mental-health-postpartum-data-shows-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/289123\/","title":{"rendered":"49% of Canadian new moms struggle with mental health postpartum, data shows – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just under half of Canadian mothers and birthing parents say they struggled with their mental health<\/a> postpartum<\/a>, according to Statistics Canada.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The\u00a02024 Parental Experiences Survey<\/a> collected information from 11,153 mothers and birthing parents across Canada who gave birth from Dec. 31, 2023 to April 29, 2024.<\/p>\n

It includes those who gave birth who identify as women and also birthing parents who are transgender or non-binary.<\/p>\n

One in five (20 per cent) of Canadian mothers and birthing parents reported that they \u201cneeded mental health care but did not receive it\u201d during pregnancy or the postpartum period.<\/p>\n

Among those reporting mental health challenges, 60 per cent say they began after childbirth, 25 per cent indicated that the challenges began during pregnancy and 15 per cent began before pregnancy.<\/p>\n

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As well, 21 per cent of mothers and birthing parents reported that \u201cno health care provider asked about their emotional well-being during pregnancy or after childbirth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there are many barriers in accessing care for individuals,\u201d said Lucy Barker, a psychiatrist and early-career scientist at Women\u2019s College Hospital. \u201cIt can be very challenging to bring it up spontaneously for some people, so making sure that health-care providers are always asking and giving that opportunity is really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPatients missing key postpartum screenings, study says\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Thirty per cent of racialized mothers and birthing parents and 33 per cent of recent immigrants indicated that they were not asked about their mental or emotional health.<\/p>\n

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Twenty-nine per cent of racialized mothers and birthing parents reported receiving help for their mental health challenges, compared with 41 per cent of non-racialized mothers and birthing parents.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tWait times were key barrier to seeking help\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Fifty-four per cent of respondents said long wait times were the biggest barrier to getting mental health care, while 33 per cent said the care available was not helpful.<\/p>\n

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Twenty-one per cent said they didn\u2019t know how or where to find care, and 19 per cent said they felt too busy to get mental health care.<\/p>\n

Two per cent of respondents with mental health challenges visited an emergency department or were admitted to hospital for mental health reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring pregnancy and postpartum, there is a lot going on, it\u2019s a time of a lot of transition, and there can be a lot of competing priorities,\u201d Barker said. \u201cCertainly, for some people, it can be difficult to get to appointments for their mental health. There are a lot of different challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Barker also said the survey \u201chighlights disparities in care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat really speaks to the importance of making sure that care is equitable and making sure that everyone has access to the care that they need, which includes being asked about mental health, is a first step to the pathway of getting people care,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCanada approves drug for postpartum depression\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In December 2025, Health Canada approved the drug Zuranolone,<\/a> a pill meant to treat postpartum depression. The drug \u201cacts on gamma-aminobutyric acid receptors in the brain, which are involved in regulating mood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The medication has been recommended for those experiencing \u201cmoderate to severe postpartum depression, with severity measured by the level of impairment in daily functioning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just under half of Canadian mothers and birthing parents say they struggled with their mental health postpartum, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[289,103,61,60,410,411,22957,1683],"class_list":{"0":"post-289123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-mental-health","13":"tag-mentalhealth","14":"tag-postpartum","15":"tag-statistics-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}