Posted by Vargas Consulting and Wellness on September 19, 2023

Self care for mothers of newborn babies is challenging. Once you leave the hospital and come home, it’s usually you, your spouse/partner and your baby. It’s important to make sure you take care of yourself as you are responsible for caring for yourself and a little one. Here’s some ways to engage in self care as a new mother:

1. Don’t stress out over cleaning. Think outside of the box. Have your spouse/partner, family or friends help you with the housework. Hire someone to come in and clean once a week or a couple of times a month. Another idea is making a plan to tackle things slowly. For example, each day of the week can dedicated to a specific room in the home you can clean. such as your bedroom, bathroom, living room or kitchen. Then, break down one thing you can do in that room, such as vacuum the floor, dust, wipe down the remote controls and/or shelves. The point is not to do to much and have a plan, you will find it helpful.

2. Make sure you get enough sleep. Sleeping when your baby is napping or sleeping is recommended. Don’t fall into the mindset that when your baby sleeps, you must clean or cook. It’s important to get enough sleep so you can function well. You and your spouse may have to come up with a sleeping schedule so both of you can get to sleep.

3. Eating good food is a must, whether it’s making a quick meal, meal prepping several different meals or scheduling a delivery service. Looking up quick and easy meals, preparing them yourself or asking a friend or family member to prepare them for your family is a helpful idea. Many grocery stores have premade meals. No more are the days when you would have to put your restless child in the shopping basket while you shop for groceries. Now, ordering groceries online, having the grocery store staff do the shopping and putting them in your trunk or delivering them to your doorstep has made grocery shopping easier than ever. By the way, remember to stay hydrated. The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine determined that an adequate daily fluid intake for men is about 15.5 cups of fluids and about 11.5 cups of fluids a day for women.

4. Welcome support. Who is in your support network? It can be friends, co-workers, family, pediatrician, church community and others. If they good people that want to be there for you, let them help you. If you close friends and family that want to come by and help clean and cook, let them do that. But remember to put up your boundaries. Set times and days that you are up for company. Write up grocery list and hand it out to your support network. Ask them to shop for groceries or even cook you a few meals. Remember that having a community is important. You’re not supposed to do everything alone.

5. Reduce social media use. I can’t tell you how many times people struggle with this. Be aware, other people post things online that are not 100% true just to make themselves look good. When looking at others posts, you may think that you are doing something wrong because it seems so easy for others. I’m not sure if this is true, most likely not. Think about constructive ways to spend your free time. Read a book, relax, call a friend or ask for help.

6. Know when it’s necessary to seek help from a mental health professional. If you are having feelings sadness, anger or hopelessness for more than a couple of weeks, you should talk to someone. See outside help. Use your insurance for referrals or search Psychology Today (Find a Therapist tab). If you don’t have insurance, check your County of State websites. Open Path also offers low cost services for people without insurance. Contact the Crisis Hotline at 741741 if you feel like you are going through a crisis and need someone to talk to immediately.