How to Cope with Stress if You’re a New Mom?
Besides the joy, excitement, and the unfathomable love for your little one, there’s loads of stress, pressure, and obligations coming your way as you become a new mom. Focusing constantly on your little bundle of joy, you become prone to forget about your mental and physical well-being. While you can’t and you naturally don’t want to escape your parenthood obligations, there are many alternatives you can turn to in order to de-stress your body and mind and give yourself a bit of rest and care you deserve. New moms, put your babies to sleep, take a deep breath, and read on! Additionally, you can check out this baby feeding guide by SellFormula.com.
Meditation and yoga
While there are a million excuses you can use to skip exercising, you have none for meditation. It can take as much as 5 minutes of your day and you can basically do it in the nursery room. You will be shocked to realize how much a 10-minute session of deep breathing can affect your daily functioning, mental wellbeing, and overall mood.
If you’re lucky enough to have a little more than 5 minutes spare during the day and are willing to provide your body with some good old stretching, take up yoga classes online by simply downloading an app and choosing one of the many daily sessions ranging from ten to thirty minutes. It’s the perfect way to relax your muscles and unwind your mind, combine exercise and meditation, especially if you find one or the other too time-consuming, dull, or too difficult.
Ask for help
The most common mistake among new moms is their tendency to believe that they can and they have to do everything alone. Having a baby, of course, requires a mother’s presence and dedication at all times, but it doesn’t mean that all the baby care is necessarily done by mom. Learn how to accept help and how to ask for help. While Dad obviously can’t breastfeed, he can definitely make breakfast, do the dishes, and tend to baby from time to time.
When it comes to helping outside the confines of your home, sign up for a transition playgroup that can significantly contribute to both you and your baby. These pre-nursery classes are led by childcare experts and focus on empowering children and building their skills from an early age, all while granting the Mom some quality me-time.
Socialize
Emotional support is key throughout the most life-changing period of becoming a mom. Moms who enjoy support from their loved ones in and out of the home are much happier and better at coping with parenthood and managing stress.
Moreover, you can look for support through various community organizations and support groups for parents – knowing you’re not alone in your experience can empower you and help you find ways to cope with stress on a daily basis. And ideally, try to have an evening off from time to time and just have a fun evening out with your friends talking about anything but house chores and baby tending – a brief escape from mom life is exactly what you need sometimes.
Take 5-minute breaks
It may sound funny and useless that a couple of minutes’ break can help you get rid of the long-accumulated stress, but give it a try. Moms and everyone else who’s under lots of stress and pressure tend to think that they have to plan and dedicate a huge amount of time in order to unwind and get the needed rest.
Obviously, it would be great if it was feasible to do so and schedule in me-time every single day, but the reality is somewhat different and most days we can barely find time to take a shower, let alone relax for an hour or two. This is why it’s important to use up those spare minutes of an hour as soon as we have them. Even just 5 minutes of doing nothing while your baby is sleeping or playing with Dad in the baby nursery can help you clear your head and recharge the batteries.
When you’re a new mom, the feeling of being stressed or anxious seems to turn into a permanent state. Stress does not only harm you, your performance, and your mental health, but it can also affect your baby. In order not to let this happen, take note of the tips we’ve shared above, and make sure to squeeze some me-time in your busy mom schedule.
Salman Zafar is an ecopreneur, consultant, advisor, speaker and journalist with expertise in waste management, waste-to-energy, renewable energy, environment protection, conservation and sustainable development. His geographical areas of focus include Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe. Salman is the Founder of EcoMENA, a popular voluntary organization based in Qatar. He is also the Founder and CEO of BioEnergy Consult, a reputed consulting firm active in biomass, waste-to-energy and waste management segments.
Salman is a professional environmental writer with more than 350 popular articles to his credit. He is proactively engaged in creating mass environmental awareness in different parts of the world.
Salman Zafar can be reached at salman@ecomena.org or salman@bioenergyconsult.com
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