Surviving the First Year of Motherhood

We never feel the situation until we personally experience it. I never knew how much my mother suffered for raising me until I became a mother myself.

Motherhood is hard and even harder than what I thought; no one could ever be compared to a mother. After having my baby girl, I felt my life somehow ended and someone else’s life was the center of my full attention all day and night.

I will never try being a hero and say it was easy and I was enjoying it so much, No, not at all, I was desperate for almost the first four months, it was all a mess, my life, my husband’s life, everything was just out of control. I felt like my all was in a coma and needs to get back to life.

I just found myself walking through the joy of having a baby vs. sleep and rest deprivation. Adjusting your life after having a baby is the clue I discovered to having a well-balanced life, we as mothers should try our best to avoid the postpartum depression which all mothers mainly experience a slight range of.

We should schedule. Yes, scheduling your baby’s life will affect on you. Definitely, this will never work as magic from the first week or even the second but will end up working and you should never give up.

Putting your baby to bed at the same time every night no later than 8:00 will give you around 3 hours of time to relax. Following a simple and fixed routine in your baby’s life will help you both. Give your baby a warm bath, this will encourage her to get calm and sleep fast. Also warm milk before bed works like magic; adjust her last meal as milk before bed time because milk has a formula that helps her to relax and enjoy a long night sleep.

Naps during the day is also so important, it gives you time to cook and do your entire house work. You should let her nap for 3-4 hours per day. Put her in bed, let her cry herself to sleep, there is no harm in that.

Have an uninterrupted talk with your husband or even a friend, a relaxing bath, or even just some peaceful time for reading will help you through your day. Give yourself a break, get a day off with your girls just for fun, and be refreshed to get your energy back for your baby.

Asking for help when things are out of control is never wrong, we as mothers are also humans, and we have times of breaking down and losing all the power to go on. Getting closer to your family and sharing the parenting wisdom of your mother will put things back on track.

The most important part of all of this is “The left-behind husband”, don’t ever forget about him, it’s all times mothers’ common mistake, taking care of the baby and neglecting the husband!!! They never understand our situation and the pressure we pass through, they only get jealous, react weird and this will all end in a dramatic way.

Balancing between them both will make your life better, there will times when you have to give up being a mom for a while and start the wife and lover role. There will also be times when you will feel like doing neither of them but pampering yourself.

Last but not least, don’t forget yourself through your journey of motherhood and don’t let any role gets on the other. Be always the queen who controls her own kingdom.

About the Author

I’m Yassmine Aref, I graduated from the faculty of arts ” English literature ” department, I worked for two years at Singapore airlines as a ground staff, then I shifted my whole career to business development at hindawi publishing cooperation. I am a wife and a mother for a very cute 4months old baby girl called Jihan, I love writing since I was in prep school, I always believe that all the hidden emotions that could never be expressed on real are more easy to be spread out on a sheet of paper.

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