Many parents today experience pressure in early parenthood. Parents report on parental pressures from above (i.e., social pressures), pressures from within (i.e., parental perfectionism) and childrelated pressures from without (i.e., infants self-regulatory problems). Recent psychological research shows that these three common reported forms of pressure are linked to parental ill-being and even to more dysfunctional parenting practices (such as intrusiveness) that forestall children’s development. The present project aims to investigate whether parental self-compassion could form an antidote to this pressured parent phenomenon. Specifically, the main purpose of the research project is threefold. First, we aim to investigate whether self-compassion attenuates the risks associated with social, personal, and child-driven parenting pressures to parents’ functioning (i.e., depression, anxiety, parental burnout). Second, we aim to gain insight in the processes that are involved in the protective role of self-compassion, with special attention to the role of parental emotion regulation. Third, this project aims to add to current intervention research in early parenthood by evaluating a compassion-based prevention program for parents’ mental health. As such, the current project is expected not only to provide important theoretical refinement, but also, to meaningfully inform clinical practice.