The journey into motherhood is an exciting yet frightening one! We have so many questions throughout the process; our bodies change, and our emotions are all over the place! Once we embark on this beautiful road, we must be sure that we take care of ourselves, especially after childbirth. Postpartum care is often underlooked as mothers tend to focus all their attention on babies and often neglect their own needs.
The postpartum phase is not the same for every mom, but most often, a new mom rushes fully into caretaker action without much thought or effort. Until… the exhaustion, residual pain from childbirth, and the sometimes-abrupt realization that you do have other responsibilities outside of the baby set in. As a mother, you must not only be attuned to your baby’s cries but pay attention to your cries for self-care as well.
Sometimes it may seem that you have to fight for your self-care. And often, you will. And sometimes you won’t want to fight and will feel like it’s too hard to fight for your self-care when you have so many other responsibilities. Nevertheless, here are the four vital things that will help you to recover and stay tuned with yourself.
1. Rest, Rest, Rest
You must get rest! With a baby comes lots of sleepless nights. You will feel an abundance of fatigue. The key to making sure you are rested is to sleep when the baby is sleeping. Forget about the laundry and dishes. Just rest!
2. Eat Healthily
Make sure you are eating healthy and staying hydrated, especially if breastfeeding. Your body will be going through another transformation after having a baby. Eating healthy will help in healing and dealing with the demands of your new role as a mother.
3. Accept Help
Accept Help from family and friends. As your new role as a mother begins, you will still have many other duties that need to be done. Don’t try to do everything! Accept Help with dishes and laundry. If you have a family that doesn’t mind cooking and dropping off healthy meals, accept! Having friends and family help will allow you to focus your attention on your baby and yourself. Time not doing those things gives you time to develop a new routine and get and stay healthy.
4. Enjoy It
Lastly, allow yourself to relax and enjoy baby cuddles. You are right, things will be left undone, but you’ll never get this time back with your bundle of joy.
Don’t rush the healing process. We tend to take our bodies for granted. Slow down. Postpartum self-care is so important.
If your friend offers to come over and entertain your older kids, let her. Let her do the dishes while you relax. As a new mom, it is OK to be pampered!
Bottom line
Take some time away from your baby! This goes for every mom, regardless of the age of your child. Apart from the joy of welcoming a priceless gift, new moms often suffer some kinds of postpartum disorders like stress and depression. Planning can help you reduce or altogether avoid most of these disorders.
