Tips For Beating New Mom Exhaustion

Let’s be real y’all… being a mom is hard! I don’t care if you have four kids or you’re a first-time mom. Finding balance is no easy task, so I thought I would give y’all a few tips and tricks!

So you’re pregnant for nine months and struggle to sleep, then you go to the hospital, pop out a baby and then you have to bring him/her home and learn how to take care of them. Like what!? How do you balance taking care of an infant, keeping a home, possibly working, taking care of yourself, and finding time to sleep!? It is not easy, but when you find that balance you are golden!

So when I was pregnant I told myself there were so many things I would NEVER do with my baby! I would never co-sleep, have no screen time, strictly breastfeed and so much more! Well, guess what? I co-slept, my son watches TV and I ended up having to supplement with formulas.

I feel that we as moms are do dang hard on ourselves and it took me the longest time to give myself a break from trying to be perfect! Part of what helped me was a looooong break from social media; there were way too many “perfect” moms and I couldn’t stop comparing myself honestly.  So I took almost a year break and felt so much better with my newfound confidence in motherhood.

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One thing that is super important as a new mom is sleep! I know everyone told me “Sleep when he sleeps”, but I couldn’t ever seem to do that because there was so much to do! If I slept when he slept when would I clean, or shower, or do anything honestly! But honestly…. the housework can wait, you need to rest too. When I started listening to everyone about sleeping when he did, my life got so much easier. Plus those skin-to-skin baby cuddle naps are the best thing in the whole entire world.

I will be honest and admit that I did co-sleep. This is controversial to many people, but it was the perfect answer to our sleeping problems. I tried so hard to teach him to sleep in the crib right off of the bat and we always failed at it. I tried swaddles, pacis, sleepsuits and so much more.

The only thing that got my son to sleep was nursing until he fell asleep and once he was asleep it was impossible to move him after that. Honestly, my son co-slept with me till he was over 18 months old and now I miss those days of his cuddling up on my chest.

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When it comes to being a mother there are so many things to learn and you really just have to find what works best for you. As long as you and your baby are safe. you shouldn’t worry about what anyone has to say about your parenting decisions. You do you mama! You’re doing amazing. If you need more tips on getting some extra Z’s I found this very helpful article Sleep Moments tips!