Be extra kind to yourself in those first few days of parenthood

they are hard for everyone!

Yes you are in that blissful “new baby bubble”, but chances are in those first few days you are also exhausted from the marathon effort that is child birth, plus your precious little bundle has had you up all night suckling away to bring that milk in.

Your hormones are going crazy, you are learning all the many, many things you never knew you didn’t know about keeping a tiny human alive. And now more than ever before, it is super important to be kind to yourself as you adjust to this whole new chapter of life.

Dr Rhiarne, our trusted family wellbeing psychologist, so rightly says “Babies don’t come with an instruction manual when they are born (unlike those packaged newborn dolls!!) and each baby and mother combination are different. It takes time to find your feet as a team”.

So take that time for you mumma! Don’t feel pressured to introduce bubs to every member of the extended family or have your hair and make-up done.

“Advice can often be “go with your intuition” however for some mothers this can be difficult to tap into and a sense of failure can also come from this” Dr Rhiarne tells us. “I remember thinking to myself “I have a PhD in Psychology and I can’t even figure out this baby!!” when I had my first as a newborn. I had placed high expectations on myself. Changing our language to the “good enough mother who is just trying the very best she can” is a lot kinder to ourselves."

Similarly our trusted Lactation Consultant Tamika Newman shared that “Whilst breastfeeding is biologically normal for the human species, it doesn’t come instinctively. It is a learned behaviour.”

Isn’t it refreshing to hear respected professionals acknowledging that “instinct” and “intuition” are words that can set up an unfair expectation for us and within us?

So we will say it again mumma. Be kind to yourself.

Take the time to learn all the things and don’t expect that you will be nailing everything within days. Literally every day of the rest of your life will bring another new little lesson to be learned. Another miraculous moment to fill your heart with a little more wonder.

Relish the joy your baby brings you, laugh at yourself, celebrate the successes, be kind.