Caring For Yourself - Tips for New Mums

Caring For Yourself - Tips for New Mums

We get it: you’re beautiful baby has just been born and you’re busier and more exhausted than you’ve ever been! This is the wearying life of a new mum. Your bub sleeps and feeds at all hours and life outside of your four walls seems like a blur as night slips into morning and into night again seemingly all in the space of a few minutes.

It might feel like you need to be an untiring machine at this point, butyou need to take care of yourself as a new mum, for your own well-being, but also so that you can care for your baby in the best possible way.

Learning to Develop Perspective

When you’re taking care of your newborn it feels like there’s an automated program running in your head. These are likely the skills and self-perceptions you’ve learned from your own mother and from the expectations of your role as a woman in society. As a woman, you probably feel as if the needs of others are more important than your own and that you feel selfish if you take time for yourself.

Whilst caring for your newborn is extremely important,it’s also important to think of yourself at this time too. It’s time to balance that automated program in your head with your own physical, emotional, and psychological needs to the point that it benefits caring for your baby and yourself equally.

Taking Care of Yourself

So, if you want to provide the best care you can, take that time out for yourself. This will help you to rest and gain valuable perspective. The important lesson here is to understand that doing these things will not make you selfish or uncaring.

In this spirit, here’s a list of some things that you can do to take care of yourself:


• Rest

Looking after a baby is physically draining. Until you get them into a good sleep routine, they can be up and awake and crying at any time of day or night. At this time, don’t worry about the world outside. Don’t worry about whether it is day or night. Just sleep when you can in between feeds and try to get as much rest as possible particularly in the first few weeks.

• Support

At this time, it’s also important to welcome and nurture the support of parents, grandparents, in-laws, and good friends. You can even join anew mothers’ group to gain valuable perspective and support through this draining time – and to get you out of the house!

• Nutrition

You might not feel like eating a lot of the time because you’re so exhausted, but trying tomaintain a balanced diet is one of the best ways to keep up your energy levels. Make sure you eat fruits and vegetables, drink plenty of water, and consume fibre, dairy, and meat (or other protein if you are vegetarian or vegan!) each day. You might not eat them at traditional times, but your body will thank you for theextra nutrition.

• Exercise

You’ll find that as the days go by, your baby will slowly develop a routine. You’ll begin to understand their needs better and will find that you slip into a more comfortable routine as you adapt. This is the time to try and get out, even for ten or fifteen minutes, for someexercise. You can run, take a walk around the block, or even go to the gym for a short and sharp session. Doing this is a great stress buster.

• Socialising

As you and your baby adapt to life together, you’ll find time to meet friends for a coffee,meet other mums, or just do some window shopping for a while. A change of scene can do wonders for your well-being – and don’t worry about the fact that you will need to breastfeed while you are out…… Peachymama offers a beautiful range ofdresses andtops that allow you to discreetly feed bubs while you are out and about. See how, with ourlatest breastfeeding tops and breastfeeding dresses!

Further Reading:

https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=the-new-mother—-taking-care-of-yourself-%20after-birth-90-P02693

https://www.babycenter.com/0_taking-care-of-yourself-during-your-babys-first-months_10343197.bc

 

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