Self-care as a Mom and helping other Moms

Last updated on May 5th, 2024 at 09:21 pm

When you become a mom, your whole world kind of stops for a little while. All you are concerned with is making sure that the new addition to your family is safe, healthy, and happy. These are the things that matter above all else, and it’s for this reason that you end up losing yourself a little. You don’t take care of yourself as well as you should, and this is not a good thing. You need to find a balance, and a way to do both without compromising the other. I wanted to share with you some tips on self-care as a mom and helping other moms out too. We are all in this together.

Talk About How You Feel

The first thing that you need to do is talk about how you are feeling. It’s extremely common for moms to feel down when they have had a baby. It might not hit you until a couple of weeks after your baby has been born, but as soon as it does, you need to talk about it. Or, if you feel happy, make sure you are talking about this too. No matter what the feeling or emotion is, bottling it up is never going to be very helpful. People want to share when they are happy, and they also want to talk when they are sad but don’t want the judgement or sometimes to admit what they are feeling.

It’s important that you just keep talking. Don’t ever let anything get in the way of that, because communication is key in all areas, including self-care.

Ask for Help

You think you have to have it all together all the time, all on your own. But you don’t. Ask for help any chance you get. It will give you a break that you might need and it does not mean you are failing as a parent. Asking for help used to be the hardest thing for me to do when I first had a baby. Now, after three children, I realize it is part of self-care for my own health and peace of mind. We are mothers but we still need to be ourselves too. Never feel like it’s a bad thing to ask for help however big or small. For example, you can check out this dentist in Decatur if you’re having dental issues, or even reach out to a therapist for your mental health. 

Take a Minute to Yourself

I can’t stress enough how important it is to take a minute to yourself. It’s the biggest self-care tip I can offer to a new parent. Even if it’s hiding in the pantry with a hot coffee for five minutes. Take a bath with a good book. Go for a walk/run alone with your nothing but your music in your ears. Go to bed early ask hubby to take over the evening routine. I did this a lot when I was doing night feeds.

Offer Help

One of the biggest things you can do for a mother whether you are one or not is offer help. If they are too scared to ask for help as recommended above than it’s important they know who is willing to help them. It’s also a great feeling when you have had a positive experience with your baby and can pass that onto someone that might be struggling. Moms like to relate to other moms as well it makes them feel more comfortable when they can share their experiences with someone else going through the same thing.

Ways to help can be as little as coffee and chatting while the babies sleep. Offering to clean although most would decline this its amazing just to have someone offer it. Cook dinner for them and drop it off so they don’t have to entertain getting dressed but you are helping out in a big way. Take older kids for a walk or even better offer to take baby for a stroll while mom naps. There are a million ways that you can really help a mom.

Find Other Way To Help Others

Another thing that you could try to do is help out others. This is something that makes a lot of people feel better, and it also helps to give back in a way to the people who have helped you. Even if you aren’t giving the help directly to those who aided you, you’re passing on the help and this is important.

It can be something small such as talking to someone who needs you. It could be going to a friends house because you know that they are struggling. It could be starting a blog to talk about your experiences and let people know that they are not alone. I did this and it really helped me out so much as a first time parent. Or, in a bigger way, it could be something more like thinking about egg donation for those who want to be a parent but are struggling. 

It’s entirely up to you how you choose to help others, but the fact that you want to already speaks volumes about who you are as a person. 

Self-care as a mom is about taking care of your mental and physical well-being so you can be the best parent you can be. It also allows you to help other moms out that need it too. You might find that helping others who need it is one of the ways that you can make yourself feel better, and there is nothing wrong with this.

Source Credit – CC0 Licence and *collaboration