Surviving the Early Days of Motherhood
Between the middle of the night feedings and overall neediness, it's easy to lose yourself during the newborn stage. Especially when you're doing it for the first time. Though splitting my attention between two kids is difficult, it's nothing compared to the transition of becoming a mother for the first time. Whether you've done the newborn stage before or not, the overwhelming difficulty of a little baby can take anyone by surprise. With my daughter, the first month passed by in a blur with a whirlwind of emotions. This time I've been able to enjoy the early days a lot more. Since it seems like everyone I know is having a baby in the next six months, I'll share the tips and tricks that have helped me make the most of Spencer's first month.
1. Find an enjoyable way to pass the time you spend nursing the baby. Hope this doesn't come as a surprise, but you'll be spending A LOT of time cooped up on the couch nursing (or bottle feeding) the baby in their early days. If you don't have anything productive to do, you can get resentful of this time. There's a lot of things that are too cumbersome to do while nursing, like be on your laptop or read a physical book, but there's still a lot you can do. I've read several eBooks on my phone while I've nursed. Pro tip: your local library should have an app that allows you to check out books for free. I also try to save all of my social media scrolling for this time, so that I have something new to look at while I feed him.
2. Bond with your baby. This may sound like a given, but hear me out. As I've alluded to, newborns require a lot of work. If you haven't taken the time to truly look at them and connect with them, all that work can feel like a chore. Once you bond with your baby, tending to them feels a lot more like something you want to do, rather than somtething you have to do.
3. Ask for help and accept the help offered to you. In the first weeks after giving birth, you only have one job: take care of the baby. Try to delegate everything else to your husband or anyone else offering. Order in food, shove the laundry basket in your hubby's hands, and pass the baby off for someone else to burp. Focus on what only you can do and leave the rest for someone else. This isn't the time to be a hero and take everything on yourself and it isn't the time to be a perfectionist. Fulfill babies' needs, then your own, followed by what HAS to be done and put off the chores that can wait. Motherhood is a marathon, not a sprint, so conserve your energy for the necessities.
4. Make time to shower and get dressed. This may seem like the perfect time to let yourself go, but I feel a million times better after I take ten minutes to rinse off in the shower and put on some clean clothes. Avoid slipping into a rut and neglecting yourself. It's not about how you look; it's about how you feel. Making the time for myself immediately improves my mood. I may get spit-up on myself ten minutes after I showered and my clothes may not match, but the act of getting ready always feels worth my valuable time. Along these lines, eat healthy. It may feel good to stuff your face with junk in the short term, but you'll pay for it in the long term. Nourish your body with good fuel and you'll be better for it.
5. Find a hobby that you can pick up in the little spare time you have. When the baby is finally settled, the toddler is watching tv, and your house isn't a total disaster, you'll want something to do for yourself. I don't care much for 'self-care', but if that's your thing, go for it. I'm much more into creating or doing something. I enjoy an adult coloring book, doing a craft on my Cricut, or journaling. Even making some progress on a project feels invigorating. Have a couple manageable crafts or a running list of projects on hand, so you'll know exactly what you want to accomplish when given a minute. There's nothing worse than being so indecisive about what you want to do with your little free time that you end up wasting all of it.
This next piece is as much for me as it is for any of you... Keep everything in perspective. One bad night, where you're up all night with your baby doesn't mean you that you'll never sleep again. One hard day doesn't mean that you aren't cut out to be a mom. The only sure thing about motherhood is that nothing stays the same for long. Once you realize that every stage and every hardship is fleeting, you can learn to appreciate it for what it is. Accept the challenge, know it won't be forever, and move on. Don't let a hard day ruin the fun parts of motherhood. One day, you'll look back on these hard days with fondness. They aren't easy, but they're the days that turn you into a motherhood. The early days are the ones that give you mom street cred. Once you make it through this transition, you can handle anything, momma.
Comments
Post a Comment