New military parents could benefit from more accessible mental health care during pregnancy and postpartum, according to a study from the JAMA Network.

“Pregnancy and the postpartum period are particularly risky times for parents’ mental health,” the study found. “Despite higher risk, parents’ use of mental health services is low,” and service members face “increased risk of mental health difficulties and [underuse] mental health services absent parenthood.”

The report studied 321,200 new Army and Navy parents over the course of several years and compared mothers’ weekly therapy attendance before and after returning to work and new parents’ monthly therapy attendance before and after returning to work to nonparents.

The JAMA Network, run by the American Medical Association, is a group of 11 specialty journals offering enhanced access to the research, reviews and perspectives shaping medicine today and into the future, according to the group’s website.

“Parents’ use of mental health treatment decreased leading into a first birth and reached its lowest point around the time of birth,” the study found. “The general pattern of decrease was the same for mothers and fathers, but the size was larger for mothers.”

Compared to nonparent troops, new parents have less time to invest in their mental health. “Increased time constraints due to parenthood limit parents’ use of mental health services,” according to the study. “Research has shown that the transition to parenthood is associated with increased time pressure, especially for mothers, suggesting that parents may have had less available time to go to therapy, even if needed.”

After new mothers returned to work, though, their therapy attendance went up again. “Mental health treatment increased in the week mothers returned to work from parental leave. This increase in mental health treatment coincides with the start of childcare for mothers … through military-subsidized or private arrangements,” the study found. “Many large bases have on-base subsidized childcare, so parents in this setting may be more able to put their child into formal childcare at the end of leave than civilians.”

Troops who are new parents could benefit from mental health options that meet them where they are through tools like home visits and telehealth appointments. “The transition to parenthood decreased service members’ use of mental health treatment [and] decreases in treatment were largest for those who attended therapy before the pregnancy, a group who may have most needed continued care,” the study found. “Findings suggest that both mothers and fathers could benefit from more accessible treatment, such as at-home mental health services.”

Read the full report here.