Relaxing Into Parenthood: 3 Tricks
The act of preparing for a baby is exciting and overwhelming. And after all of the preparation of making sure it’s perfect once the baby arrives, we’re thrown into sleepless nights and waves of anxiety. Being anxious is nothing new, but the concept of relaxing into parenthood kind of is. So what is relaxing into parenthood and why is it so important?
Looking at the Root Causes of Your Stress
It’s normal for parents to worry about literally everything from the baby stopping breathing or turning over in their bed. This is where tech like baby monitors can help. Baby breathing monitors from Babysense provide visual and audio so you can see if the baby's okay, but if there are any issues with their breathing pattern, it immediately alerts you. It's natural for us to want to check on them all the time but if we are doing it for no reason other than anxiety, sometimes it can do more harm than help. As long as we have some baseline to know that everything is okay, we have to trust our instincts.
Learning to Trust Your Gut
Even if you don’t feel it, mother’s intuition is a thing. It just takes a little getting used to. It's also important for us to not overthink in some ways. Mother Nature is a fantastic force and the amount of signals and connections that are created between us and the baby is something to be marveled at. But it's only going to work if we learn how to have patience and trust ourselves.
Relaxation Tools
Newsflash: you want to relax into parenthood you've got to be relaxed yourself. This is not easy when you are most likely exhausted and over caffeinated, but you have to remember that there is only so much caffeine we should consume regardless of the gallons we fantasize about. Breathing techniques are wonderful - so is getting outside for even just 10 minutes alone each day. Finally just like how a routine helps the baby relax, a simple, consistent routine can do the same for you. A bedtime routine for the baby and yourself will relax you, and when in doubt, remember that you should never be afraid to ask for help. To relax into the role, we've got to give ourselves a break and allow for support on occasion, even if we do feel like we can take it all on itself.
A Thoughtful Misfit is a woman who doesn't fit in boxes - from how she dresses, to the way she lives, to the way she chooses to mother and to love…