Being a parent can give you moments that fill you with contentment and others when you want to tear your hair out. Adapting to life with a new baby can put a strain on any family relationship.

For parents with young children the stresses can be enormous, particularly when the first child arrives. Maternal feelings can leave the father feeling excluded. Post natal depression not only affects the mother, but can also result in the father struggling to understand what is happening. The expectation of other family members for new parents to be ‘perfect’ can result in feelings of inadequacy. All of these and many other problems can affect the relationship, causing arguments and tension.

When subsequent children arrive, the pressures may be different but are just as strong. The elder child may be being demanding as the new baby gets more attention; trying to ‘play you off against each other’. You may be struggling with ‘having to do it all over again’.

Having a new baby in the family transforms your life. It's easy for your children to take up your every waking minute. Among all the other things, it's important to find time for your relationship with your partner. How the two of you get on is important for your children too. They are learning about relationships by noticing and copying you both.

A new baby has a huge impact on a couple’s relationship. Our trained and experienced counsellors can help you to put things in perspective; learn how to deal with difficult situations, restore balance to family life and help you keep important time aside for you and your partner.

“We were going mad, doubting our capacity to be good parents. Our delightful counsellor calmed us and helped us work out how to cope and enjoy this wonderful experience”.

Ideally, you should go to counselling together: it's hard to build a team if only half the players are there. Often, if one person makes the decision to give counselling a try, the partner will decide to go too.

If your partner doesn’t want to join you, there are lots of things counselling can help you sort out on your own. There may be changes you can make alone that will have a positive impact on your relationship. Some people also prefer to have counselling on their own at first to work out their feelings before seeing another counsellor together.