Listening To Your Mommy Body
When you become a parent, it can seem like everything about your body changes. Whether it’s a few extra pounds added, your hair either going really thick or really thin or just how your skin is reacting post-baby, you can definitely pinpoint something that has happened to you post-baby that wasn’t there before. But with so much going on, this leads us to not really paying much attention to the bigger picture. It’s true that you have someone important to focus on, but as their number one, we need to be focusing on ourselves too in order to keeps ourselves as healthy as we can for our children. There are some times when we need to be listening to our body rather than dismissing it as just being a Mommy Body.
Mental Health
A sudden increase in hormones after birth as well as all the stresses that raising another human being can bring is a lot to cope with. If you need to talk to somebody about what you are going through – whether you are dealing with it or not – don’t be afraid to do so. There is still so much stigma surrounding mental health, but it’s something that definitely needs talking about, especially amongst mothers. If you are feeling bleak about life more days than you are not, make an appointment with your doctor. Surrounding yourself with a good network of people going through a similar situation can often be a great support system; if you haven’t got any friends who match this criteria in real life, sites like Facebook and Twitter offer groups and hashtags that will lead you to the right people.
Head
New noises, tensions over situations and a lack of sleep can all contribute towards headaches when you first become a new parent. But actually, the causes of sinus headaches, migraines and tension headaches aren’t to be looked over – they could be pointing you towards something more serious. Don’t just put it down to you having a stressful day with the kids. If a problem has lasted longer than a couple of days, go and get checked out. A lot can be attributed to not being able to properly differentiate between what is causing your head to actually hurt. More parents would rather put it to one side and try and work their way through it themselves than getting properly seen to.
Body Pain
Our bodies carry us from A to B. They were also the things that carried your baby from A to B, whether through pregnancy or picking them up. So it’s not unusual to find that you are aching after a long day of pushing a buggy, running around after a toddler or walking around with a sling and baby on your back. However, you body should be able to recover pretty quickly after this, and any aches and pains that last longer than few days after exerting yourself could be a sign of something more serious. Listen to your body and what it’s trying to tell you.
