Never Mind The Baby – How To Get YOU Into A Routine After Birth

This is a collaborative post

There is one article that just doesn’t come up enough when it comes to having a new baby, and it’s about how a new mother can find a routine for herself. There’s a reason that they call childbirth ‘labour’ and that’s because of how tough it is to bring a human to the world. You will be bombarded with articles telling you how to get your newborn into a routine, how to manage with the routine of breastfeeding and night feeds. You’ll even have articles telling you how to slim down after your body has bloomed in pregnancy and changed afterwards – insert eyeroll here.

Here’s the thing. You are a new parent, a mother. Your entire life has twisted and changed in a way that will never go back to normal again. So, it’s your job to find your new normal. You need to figure out your new routine as a mother, sure, but you are still a woman. You’re irreversibly changed from who you were before, which means that you need a routine that’s going to fit you again. You are still a person outside of your baby, too, so it’s important to get yourself into a routine that will fit you as well. Self-care is very important as a new mother, and you should ensure that you are taking care of yourself after stepping into your new role.

So many women feel massively overwhelmed when a tiny new life bursts into theirs. It’s hard to straighten your emotions, your time and your ability to have a shower out when you have a demanding little baby to look after. Try not to lose your perspective on life. The earlier you realise that there will be a wash of hormones to tackle and a routine to get fixed for your baby all at the same time, the earlier you will be able to relax into your new skin. So, how can you fix up your routine so that you can manage your own self-care when you become a mother?

Forget The Housework.

Before the baby arrived and you were still pregnant, it’s likely you hit that crucial nesting phase, cleaning and even renovating and replacing half the house fixtures with what you could at www.drench.co.uk. Since then, though, the house likely looks a lot less nested and a lot more rested! Housework is something that can absolutely wait for you to recover. Don’t push yourself through getting housework done just because it’s a mess at home. Rely on your support system; your partner, friends and family are all there to help you out. Part of a routine for yourself means pressing pause for a few weeks while you recover and get your bearings and the good bit is that you can do what you feel you need to while you need to do it. If housework has to wait, make it wait – with no guilt.

Practice Alone Time.

You may have a baby out in the world with you now, but this doesn’t mean that you stop being alone. Take at least 45 minutes of your day to yourself. The baby can spend some time with Daddy, Grandma or your friends who you trust to sit for an hour or so. This 45 minutes is usually enough for a soak in the tub, a hot shower or even cooking yourself some food and sitting still while you eat with two hands. If you need to sit in the garden, do that, too.

Building a routine for yourself means setting an alarm in the morning an hour before your baby normally wakes up. It means enjoying that one cup of tea or coffee a day in silence before getting yourself ready. It means going for a long walk with the pram to get some fresh air. Getting yourself into a routine surrounds self-care, and self-care is something that you should never forget to give yourself once you’ve become a mother.

Becoming a mother is a big deal, but that doesn’t mean that you need to forget who you are or revolve in a pile of dirty washing and filthy nappies. It means you stand up and take the world by the horns. You are still a vital, youthful, beautiful person – who should not get lost in your new role in the world. You’re raising a little person to be fierce and fabulous, so it makes sense that you should practice what you preach.