Motherhood With Depression

Self Care

Living with depression was “easier” for me to manage before having kids. I was able to rest and get more sleep, have time for myself and do a lot more self care on a regular basis.

Now I have a toddler and a 5 month old baby and I’m lucky if I remember to shave my armpits and I even catch myself forgetting to brush my teeth and cut my nails more often. There’s a lot more obstacles that seem to get in the way of caring for my body.

It can already be hard to manage self care when you’re struggling with depression but adding babies into the mix and it adds so much more effort and steps before you can tend to yourself.

If you don’t have someone with you to watch the babies you then don’t get time for yourself to do a basic need like showering, showering becomes difficult because you have to have a quick shower while you’re baby is napping and shower the toddler with you if they aren’t napping at the same time as baby.

Exercise

I didn’t start exercising until 3 months after having my second baby, after having my first baby I neglected myself and told myself I was “too exhausted” to exercise or do anything at the end of the day so every single night was spent just sitting on the couch watching Netflix.

After having my second baby I decided I really needed something for myself and after thinking for months I finally decided I just needed to force myself to go to the gym, so I signed up and got a membership to a gym and I now go to the gym at least 3 times a week doing at least 1 hour sessions or classes.

Exercise has helped my mental health significantly, I feel proud of myself after every gym session as well as having more clarity.

Exercise has given me time for myself which is very necessary when you’re a mother who doesn’t get much time alone. I’m blessed with babies that have a good sleep routine and they’re almost always in bed and sleeping by 7:30pm which allows me to go to the gym at night without needing to rush back home because my kids are safe at home with their dad and sleeping soundly.

Appointments

Dealing with mental illness or mental health issues, you might have a lot of appointments you have to attend but you can’t take your kids to your therapy sessions or sometimes taking kids to Drs appointments is just too much stress.

Getting out of the house with babies is already hard but going somewhere that requires them to sit still and be quiet is almost impossible. You either have to find someone to baby sit which can be difficult when everyone is so busy or you have to suck it up and take the babies or just end up cancelling and don’t get the care that you need.

A lot of things seem to be put on the back burner when you become a mum but it’s so important to find a way to bring self care back for your own wellbeing.