Supporting new parents
Everyone, meet Angela! She’s a mom, employee-of-the-year, shopper/chef/delivery woman all in one! Angela loves to focus on all things parenthood related when it comes to nutrition and wellness. Look out for recipes and blogs prioritizing parent health from her in the future.
Let’s face it, pregnancy is a lot of work. Labor and C-sections can be pretty rough on the body, and the newborn stage (as amazing as it is) is not always a piece of cake! After my first daughter was born, I thought I was through with the difficult part. I was prepared, excited, and intoxicated with that new baby smell. In my mind I knew that I could handle this new adventure, regardless of any curve balls that could come my way.
To this day, I still think I handled everything like a boss. However, In hindsight I could tell I made things harder on myself than I needed to. I have this huge support system around me that I chose not to rely on for a while. I was nursing a fussy girl who refused to take a bottle until she was seven months old. So in my head, it didn’t make sense to ask for help or to accept it. No one else could feed the baby, and babies always need to be fed. I was with her at all times. She went to child care at my work, so I would nurse her there. Even if she would have taken a bottle, emotionally I would have been a wreck to pass her on to anyone and not be near by. So I worked, cooked, cleaned, grocery shopped, did laundry, and added taking care of a baby to the list. Then not too far after I started to fall behind on the rest of my life. Self care took a dive, social life took a dive, and I swear my eyebrows mirrored Bert’s from Sesame Street.
After my third pregnancy, I knew better. I knew my friends and family members always wanted to help support me in any way they could. I also realized all of the ways I could have asked for help without having to miss out on nursing my children. I knew that taking help did not make me anything less than the amazing mother I have always tried to be. And most importantly, I knew that if someone wanted to do something helpful, I could suggest the things that I would find helpful, even if it wasn’t what they were originally offering. In asking for help, I was able to be less stressed by the daily to do list and find more time for self care in ways that not only would benefit my health and my sanity, but also benefit my children, and my significant other.
During the new mom frenzy we face craziness. We exhaust ourselves from being on a newborn’s schedule; night and day mean nothing to the crying bundles of joy. People tell you to sleep when the baby sleeps, which sounds amazing, though it is far from realistic. Time is spent nursing, prepping formula, pumping, hydrating, cleaning bottles and breast pumps, burping, rocking, encouraging development through playful interactions, bathing, cooking, googling how many layers to put your newborn in based on any changes in temperature, changing diapers, changing the baby’s clothes, changing your own clothes, not to mention trying to do all of the other things you did before the baby came home.
It is A LOT!
So getting to it… I’ll be sharing five simple ways to support new parents- especially postpartum moms and their newborns! It breaks down to a few simple things that can bring so much relief: help them eat healthy, play with the baby, help around the house, let them spend time with others, and talk to them! Whether given through time or gifts, these are invaluable ways to show the new parents in your life some love. Even the smallest of these acts can change their experience for the better!
Check out my blog posts for all the details: