Dealing with the Lack of Sleep and Stress that New Moms Experience (April 2012)

Dealing with the Lack of Sleep and Stress that New Moms Experience

My daughter in her SwaddlePod, sound asleep!

zzzzzZZZZzzzz....

Ahhh, remember that?  The good old days of a good night's sleep, every night, for weeks - oh, how times have changed!

I know for me it has been tough to deal with the lack of sleep over the past few months. It has also been a challenge trying to develop ways to deal with the effects of losing so much sleep.  This website, for example, has been a way for me to relax my mind and focus it on something interesting and substantive. Concentrating my energy on this site has helped quiet down some of my uneasy feelings and frustrations, allowing me to think more clearly about my life.  I have realized that caring full time for my baby while trying to keep up all the time with the rest of the world is unrealistic.  It is very difficult to “do it all” these days.  All you will get is a lot of stress and sleep even less!

The problem is that the lack of sleep will cause you to feel even more stressed!  Therefore, I wanted to share with you some ideas that I have found to be useful in dealing with the emotional effects that stress can cause when you become a new mom.

Take a break, keep up with a hobby: Stress can really be a major problem after having a baby and one must take a certain approach when dealing with lots of stress. As new moms, we must realize that stress comes with the job and that we have to learn to overcome it by admitting that maybe we are trying to do too much, too soon or maybe just too much altogether.  The best way to deal with stress is to take a break once in a while, especially when the baby is sleeping and try to focus your mind on something interesting to you.  Maybe you have a hobby already (like sewing, crochet, knitting, writing, etc.) or you like to organize things in your home.

Handling your stress level is the most important thing you can do for you, your family and your child. Stress will cause you to have difficulty with all of your personal relationships, including your acquaintances.  By you handling your stress, it will make it easier for your loved ones to manage their stress. 

Relax: If you don’t have a regular hobby, I suggest taking 30 minutes every day, when your little one is asleep and use meditation to reduce your stress.

In the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy, I really started to feel anxious about the big day.  These feelings of anxiety were very paralyzing and I did not want to feel this way on the day that my daughter was to be born. I knew I needed something more than just soft music to relax me and give me some sense of control over these feelings.

I found www.hypnobabies.com and downloaded a video from their site to help me relax and prepare for the big event. The video was very helpful and my stress level was reduced dramatically.  I watched it 2-3 times per week (in the last 6 weeks of my pregnancy) prior to the arrival of my daughter. Hypnobabies has an extensive program to help women relax and feel more comfortable towards the end of their pregnancy.  They offer two sample MP3's on their website, I tried the "Relax Me" MP3. If you want to try the samples, just register with the website and download them directly: https://www.hypnobabies.com/about-hypnobabies/experience-hypnobabies

Baby album: I also find that working on my baby’s photo album book is a nice way to keep my mind busy while creating something cute and beautiful for my daughter to appreciate one day.  I received two darling albums as gifts that can still be found for sale (they are now out of print, so hurry if you want one!).

The Hello Baby! Photo Album is here:

http://www.ebay.com/ctg/50810063?_imid=330656382732

  

I also have the matching keepsake journal shown below. I have loved chronicling my daughter's milestones in this journal.  It comes with an adorable height chart.                      
The Hello Baby! Baby Book keepsake journal is also out of print but it can be found here:           

http://www.buyinbulkandsave.com/Hello-Baby-Book-Keepsake-Journal/dp/0811849945?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle

I love these two albums because of the vintage inspired illustrations.
If you only have digital pictures, and can not print them at home, I suggest trying www.Walgreens.com where you can upload your photos and have them delivered to you. Walgreens offers discounts all the time on prints and the shipping cost is very reasonable.

 Other Suggestions: In a recent article at WhatToExpect.com, the author briefly discusses several ways for new moms to relax and ‘take a breather’.  They suggest using some form of meditation, taking a daily walk with your baby, stretching for exercise, keeping a journal, playing music, watching a funny movie and eating healthy snacks.

You can read more about their suggestions on their site:http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/week-35/take-five.aspx?xid=nl_YourDailyNewsletterfromWhattoExpect_20120416

I hope this post has been helpful to some of my mom friends out there and I will continue to update this site, so please check back often and feel free to comment on this article below.

Try to have a less stressful day and happy parenting!

Joy E.
Posted April 11, 2012
JoyE@NetworkforMoms.org

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