5 Sanity Saving Tips for Life with a Baby

Being a new mom is even harder! Not only has life as you know it has completely changed your body is also recovering from a major event. The worries are endless! With all those worries comes a lot of added stress that you didn’t have before. Read below for some of my tips on how to keep your sanity and peace as a new mom.

Sanity-Saving Tip#1: Reserve one of the baby’s Naps for YOU time!

This is one of the hardest things to do. I am pretty obsessive about how clean and organized my house is/ how I feel it should be. It was a constantly losing battle even before we had kids but it got so much worse after my daughter was born. The amount of laundry seemed to quadruple. Dishes constantly piled up in the kitchen. There were pump parts to wash and sterilize. Not to mention all the regular cleaning that wasn’t getting done.

I refused to be one of those women whose house became a disaster after kids entered the picture. This refusal came back to bite me in the butt as I would frantically race around trying to clean the house everytime my daughter was asleep. I finally realized that I need to give myself some grace and realize that I needed some time to myself to relax. Some of those chores could take a backseat for awhile.

I decided to save one of my daughter’s naps to do anything that I wanted, NOT spend it frantically working. I’d lazily browse Instagram while sipping a cup of coffee or kick back and catch up on Netflix.

While it doesn’t seem important among the long list of things that are demanding your attention remember that recharging your batteries IS important. You can’t take care of your baby if you aren’t doing a good job taking care of yourself too!

Sanity-Saving Tip #2: Exercise!

Truth Bomb: I absolutely detest exercise. Doesn’t matter what it is, exercise is about the last thing I want to do most days. I hate getting all hot and sweaty, I hate getting my heart rate up and out of breath and I hate how dorky and uncoordinated I feel while exercising. However, despite these things, I know how important exercise is for my wellbeing. Exercise has a boatload of benefits including increasing mental clarity, lowering your risk of disease, increased weight loss (I’m looking at you, my ever-present, baby belly,) creating extra energy, and BONUS it makes you happier!  Whether its 10 minutes, 30 minutes or a whole hour make some time to exercise. Your body and brain will thank you for it!

Sanity-Saving Tip#3: Connect with friends

I’m the first to admit, I can be prettyyyyy anti-social. I love just being at home with my dogs and little one. However, I always feel rejuvenated after spending time with friends. Spending time outside with friends is a good reminder that you are your own person apart from just being a milk-producing, bab- holding, diaper-changing shell of a human.

Beyond reminding yourself that you are your own woman spending time with friends is important for the soul! Spending time with friends makes you happier, relieves stress, and can even help your emotional health!

Find some time this week. Call up some friends, leave Baby with Dad and head out for a cup of coffee or (better yet) hit a local happy hour.

Sanity-Saving Tip#4: Save Time for the Things You Really Love

I’m going to be real honest here. The thing I love to do above all else is hunkering down with a glass of wine, or a decaf cup of coffee and Netflix and chill (and by Netflix and chill I really do mean chill not euphemistically 🙂 ) Yes Yes Yes, TV is bad for you, it staunches creativity, critical thinking and turns us into mindless zombies but you know what? Sometimes its really nice to just check out and watch someone else’s life for a while. (BTW have you seen The Good Wife? I am currently obsessed!)

Sanity-Saving Tip#5: Be kind to yourself

Do yourself a favor and be kind to yourself. You are a mom now! There are so many responsibilities that come with that. There are going to be days where you don’t get your list of chores done, can’t find the willpower to exercise, and bail out on hanging out with your friends. But that’s OK! IT is impossible to be perfect each and every day so give yourself the grace to know that YOU are DOING GREAT even if your day or week doesn’t turn out the way you wanted it to.