Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Stages

6 simple ways new moms can practice self-care

By

While being a new mother can be exciting, it can also be very taxing on a mom’s body and on their mental health as well. Moms literally grew a human inside of them and bring them into the world, and that’s why they need to give themselves grace after having a baby. If you’re a new mom, you need to be able to have a moment to yourself sometimes after being with the baby all day. An easy way to get a break is to ask your partner to watch the little one while you practice some much-needed self-care for new moms.

How to practice self-care

Leave the shopping to someone else

The last thing you want to worry about after having a baby is grocery shopping. It can feel pretty exhausting, especially in the few weeks after you had your baby. You might not have the energy to dress the baby, put them in their car seat, and carry them around a grocery store. There are quite a few different grocery shipping services like Shipt, Instacart, and more. Your local grocery store may even have a service just like that, too. It’s just as easy as choosing what items you want, and your personal shopper does all the shopping. Your delivery will be on your step before you know it. Nutrition is extremely important when it comes to building back up some vital nutrients and vitamins.

And Breathe Neon Lights
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Breathe

One of the easiest things that new moms can do is to take deep breaths. It helps to calm the nerves if you’re a little anxious and it can be an extremely helpful thing when you want to take a mental step back quickly to calm yourself. It will also help to give you clearer thinking and a sense of peace when you do some deep breathing. You can even look on websites like YouTube for a great variety of different breathing exercises that you can do.

Recommended Videos

Take a nap

You are bound to feel tired in the days and weeks after delivering a baby. Your body will need a lot more sleep in order to heal. Not only does this include getting plenty of rest at night when you can, but also taking a nap during the day if you need it. If the baby is napping, nothing says that you cannot take a nap as well. Doing so will help you to recharge your batteries and wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go do what you need to do.

Mom Pushing Baby In Stroller
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Exercise

One of the best ways to help you feel more like yourself again is to be physical and exercise when you can. However, one of the things about exercising postpartum is that you should speak to your doctor before starting any kind of workout program. Once you have their advice about it, you can start exercising, which releases endorphins, which are “happy chemicals” that your brain gives off. You can even bond with your baby and start going on slow walks with them.

Related

Indulge in a hot bath

If you had a set morning our nighttime ritual before the baby, get back into it. You can easily do it right after you put your little one down to sleep at night. Perhaps you enjoy a nice hot shower or bath, a little face cream if you use it, or another nice way to just relax for the night. By taking a hot bath or a shower, you are relaxing your muscles that you’ve held tense all day, in addition to giving yourself some time for you, where you can just clear your head and think.

Quiet time

Having a special “quiet time” is a wonderful way to just take the time to slow down after everything the day has thrown at you. Quiet time can be anything you want, really. If you just want to sit outside for a little bit to soak up some sun while your partner or other caregiver watches the baby, that can be your quiet time. Other times, it can be something as simple as sitting and breathing. Other quiet time activities can include journaling, which is a great way for you to kind of do a “brain dump” of all of your feelings that happened that day.

Self-care is something that is for everybody. New moms definitely need it, and there are plenty of ways that they can easily do some self-care for themselves. If other children are involved, practicing self-care sets an example for children if they see their mom taking care of herself after having a baby.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Jennifer Passmore
Jennifer Passmore
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Jennifer has written two books on how to deal with living with chronic illness using the power of positivity. She has written…
The top cowboy and Western baby names that are riding high
Here’s some inspiration when naming baby if you’re a fan of all things Western
Baby boy wearing a blue knitted cap

There's so much to be excited about when it comes to having a baby, but parents-to-be often spend quite a bit of time agonizing over the perfect name. There is a lot of pressure to choose the ideal name for your little one, which may be why Western baby names are riding back to the forefront.

Namerology creator Lauren Wattenberg is all about names and predicts cowboy baby names will definitely be something to climb in the saddle for in the coming years. Wattenberg feels shows like the popular Western drama Yellowstone have brought cowboy names in from the range. Of course, Western baby names have never really ridden into the sunset. Dakota is a gender-neutral Western baby name that became prevalent in the 90s.

Read more
These foods that fight nausea during pregnancy are lifesavers
Try these foods to help you combat that sick feeling
Pregnant woman not feeling well

Morning sickness is a common symptom many pregnant women experience. The name implies that the overwhelming feeling of nausea only happens in the morning, which isn't necessarily true. Morning sickness can happen at any time throughout the day or night. Sometimes, it's also accompanied by vomiting. That nauseous feeling typically starts around the nine-week mark and lasts for the first three months.

For some women, morning sickness begins to wane at the back end of the first trimester. For others, though, it can last much longer, with many moms-to-be dealing with nausea and vomiting throughout the whole pregnancy. Of course, that horrible nauseousness can keep women from doing the things they want and need to do during the day. Thankfully, there are foods that fight nausea during pregnancy that can help keep morning sickness on the back burner. If you're combatting morning sickness, give these foods a try.
Foods that fight nausea during pregnancy

Read more
Is it common to have pregnancy second trimester headaches?
How to tell if this common ailment is safe during pregnancy
Woman laying down with headache

Pregnancy can be amazing and frustrating. It’s the critical time that mom forms the bond between herself and her baby. However, symptoms and side effects of growing a human being can cause a fair amount of discomfort. Whether the cause is stress, injury, surging hormones, or slight dehydration, expecting moms are bound to experience at least one or two headaches throughout their pregnancy, leaving many to wonder if it's common to have pregnancy second-trimester headaches.

Triggered headaches are common in pregnancy, especially during the first trimester when pregnancy hormones double and triple. But what about later-trimester headaches? Could they just be a passing issue due to stress or hormone imbalance? Or could they be a sign of something more serious? Let’s look at what the experts say to ease the minds of troubled moms looking for aid.
What is a headache, anyway?

Read more